The Girl With the Red Bandana
by IWriteFandomStuff
Summary: In which Drew follows May's journey through Hoenn and Kanto, and he slowly finds more than just a rival in her. Contestshipping with lots of yummy coffees thrown in.
1. Slateport City

**Chapter One: Slateport City–** In which Drew meets May, and May competes for the first time.

 **Author's note:**  
\- Contestshipping was my first OTP.  
\- I want this story to follow some canonical events from episodes, and other chapters will be things I made up. This one, obviously, will follow the episodes, "Now That's Flower Power!" and "Win, Lose or Drew!"  
\- To all my contestshipping homies out there, leave a reviews and feedback to let me know if I'm getting charatcer personalities right and if you like or hate the story. That's my biggest peeve in fics: when the characters get totally OOC.

* * *

"There's sand _all over_ me," some kid shrieked while entering the lobby. "What was the girl thinking?!"

"It'll take forever to get all of the sand out of my hair," his female companion whined.

Drew Hayden, although largely uninterested, raised his gaze from PokéNav his seat to focus on the scene. He'd been reviewing footage of his Roselia's magical leaf for the contest coming in two weeks; an attack they both knew needed more work. He wasn't pleased with the colors he wasn't seeing in the attack, and he knew if he could nail it, it would mean big points for him in any contest.

This was his year; he would win the Grand Festival. True, he was just over a year in his coordinator experience, and he hadn't even entered the Grand Festival last year despite qualifying, but he vowed to himself that _this year_ would be the year that he would win.

His first year in the contest circuit was all about practice; that was his choice after his first loss to Solidad. He'd spent the year traveling Hoenn while building his team, studying other coordinators, perfecting technical appeals and combinations and entering a few contests here and there. Though he qualified for the Grand Festival, he chose not to enter it. He attended, of course, but merely to observe. He had learned from his loss to Solidad that going into something with no prior knowledge was not how to win.

It was a long year for him, but he knew he needed it to become great. He rarely lost that first year, and now fresh in a new contest circuit, he felt more confident than ever. His experience combined with his Pokémon would take him all the way.

He'd chosen Slateport City as his first contest of the season, and he'd been working with Roselia on her combinations all morning, filming each attack to study it later. That was how he found himself in the main lobby of the resort. He was resting in a large sofa chair, bathing in the sunshine from the large glass walls beside him. The lobby had been practically empty, with only a few people passing through to make their way to the famous beaches of Slateport. Roselia taking a much-deserved rest in her pokéball while he reviewed the videos and came up with ideas in his head. He was totally focused until the two teens barged in, yelling complaints and spreading sand everywhere. It was an unwanted disruption, to say the least.

"Why was she even on our section of the beach?" the boy demanded, shaking sand out of his hair. "I'm pretty sure she's not staying here."

"She said something about training," the girl moaned shielding her eyes from the sand he was unconsciously throwing at her.

Drew pursed his lips and thought for a moment; there wasn't a gym in Slateport, so that meant…

"There's no way she'll win the contest, even with a gust attack as powerful as that," the boy commented. "I'm going to shower and change, I gotta get this sand off of me."

The girl nodded and the two shuffled off towards the elevators, some maids coming in to sweep up the trail of sand they'd left in their wake. It definitely was a high profile resort.

Drew locked his PokéNav up and mused to himself about their words. Clearly, it was just another rookie who didn't even have the potential to carry her through the preliminaries from the sound of it. Or even more to the point, another waste-of-time competitor who wasn't taking it seriously. Just a silly little girl wanting a shiny ribbon without understanding the significance behind it, not that she'd get it.

That bothered him, a lot. Coordinating was still fairly new in the world, with branches just reaching out to Kanto and Johto, or so he'd heard. But the point was that Pokémon trainers with their gym battles and leagues still ruled almost every region in the world, despite that tropical place...Alola or whatever it was called. They had some completely different system that he didn't care about enough to look into. Although there was the argument contests were finally gaining popularity in the world, it was still offensive to him to see so many new comers coming in and thinking they could be experts right off the bat. Even when he started out, he wasn't terrible. But the contest halls he'd observed more recently were full of clueless children competing, trying to earn appeal points with dumb props like batons and Frisbees. It was a mockery; at least, it was to him, and he intended to try to bring some respect back to his chosen path in whatever ways he could.

He shoved his PokéNav into his jacket pocket and made his way outside, the warmth of the sun and the gentle breeze in the air giving him some inspiration. As soon as he was done observing this girl, he'd try out Roselia's solar beam. The conditions were perfect and he was sure his starter Pokémon could fire off a spectacular one.

While approaching the railing overlooking the private section of beach, he spotted a Beautifly who definitely caught his eye. Its wings sparkled unlike any other Beautifly he'd ever seen before. Whoever controlled this Pokémon could easily pull off some stunning combinations, and the thought of that almost made him nervous. He had to force himself to look away when he finally got to the railing, and below the magnificent bug, a girl in a red bandana was kneeling in the sand with clenched fists and a frustrated expression.

He raised his eyebrows curiously. There's no way this could be the same girl the kids he'd seen were complaining about, could it? She had a beautiful Pokémon whose appearance basically radiated contest appeal.

She muttered something from the ground, but he couldn't hear what she said. Something about a silver wind? He cringed; a silver wind from a beautiful Pokémon as good-looking as her's could be dangerous.

One of the three boys approached her from behind, and Drew studied the scene before him carefully, as if he were studying a contest.

"Okay!" the boy encouraged the girl on the ground. "That just means you gotta keep practicing, right?"

"You're right!" the girl responded, her confidence seemingly restored. "So, Beautifly, one more time from the top!"

This was it; the girl rose to stand, a fierce determination taking over her entire being. Drew braced himself, expecting to see something spectacular. Part of him was hoping to see the silver wind. He wondered just how much it would shine in the sunlight and he–

Were those Frisbees?

Oh… _Oh_.

The world made sense again.

This was definitely the girl he heard about; there was absolutely no doubt. Drew flicked his hair and waited for the opportunity to intervene. She hurled the three pink Frisbees at her Pokémon, calling for it to respond with gust. It did, and Drew, although frankly unimpressed with the mediocre choreography of it all, couldn't deny that the Pokémon had at least produced a powerful gust, sending those Frisbees soaring before gravity finally forced them back down. At least the Pokémon was brilliant, and he could always appreciate a great Pokémon. The coordinator, though…well, he wouldn't even call her that.

With luck, he could resolve that problem pretty quickly and get back to training. But Drew Hayden didn't really believe in luck.

She caught the first two with relative ease and some grace, and it was nothing short of destiny that one of the Frisbees was coming straight for him, giving him the excuse he needed. He caught it without even batting an eye, and smirked at the collective gasps emanating from the four on the beach.

"I'm sorry!" the girl was quick to shout, running towards him and clasping her hands under her chin in embarrassment.

Her voice was shaky, a little unsure of herself. Perfect. This would be easier than he thought.

"Please don't tell me you're planning on entering the Pokémon Contest with a cheesy move like that," Drew couldn't get rid of the smirk on his face even if he wanted to.

He spun the Frisbee on his finger for a few seconds before tossing it back down to her, shock and a bit of annoyance all over her face. When she didn't respond right away, he took the opportunity. He hopped over the railing, landing gracefully on the sand and walked coolly towards her with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"You've got no finesse, no moves," he criticized.

It was working perfectly. He had to shove his hand in her face to halt her from jumping him, because he could practically feel the anger rolling off of her tiny shoulders.

"Who are you to tell me that?!" she demanded.

She didn't know who he was? All the more reason she shouldn't be a coordinator. He has built quite a reputation in his year of preparation; the only coordinator who qualified but didn't enter the Grand Festival. And it sparked a lot of discussion in the contest world. _"Just who was this mysterious powerhouse coordinator who didn't even enter the biggest contest of them all?"_ the headlines had read. Practically everyone in the contest world knew who he was, and yet this girl in the red bandana didn't.

"If you must know, I'm Drew: _Pokémon Coordinator_ ," he added for emphasis.

"Really?" the boy in blue questioned. "That's just like you, May!"

Drew had to hold back hysterical laughter, but at least he had a name to match to her face. May.

"Please, no comparison," he remarked honestly. "You see, you and your Pokémon here, you've got _no_ style."

She was practically fuming now. Drew made a mental note of how easy it was to aggravate her, and how funny it was as well.

"Hey!" she was yelling now. "You can make fun of me all you want but don't you dare make fun of my Pokémon!"

That threw him off for half a second, but he was careful not to let it show. She was clearly a terrible coordinator, but she did care for her Beautifly. That was respectable enough, he supposed. He had lost count of how many people he's met on his journey so far who were only concerned with what their Pokémon could give them, and not the actual Pokémon themselves. Maybe May wasn't totally hopeless as a person, but he had too many doubts about her as a coordinator.

Still, he had a job to do, and he was going to protect his passion from wannabes like May.

"Just calm down, little girl."

That did it; his hand shot out again to prevent her from advancing.

"Why don't you show us all of your great Pokémon?" the boy in blue provoked him, not that Drew cared much.

"Why?" he replied. "What good would that do? I think you children outta just be on your way. This is a private beach reserved for people, like me, staying at that resort."

There, that should have done it. Not only did he make it obvious they were unimpressive, but he also clarified that they weren't even allowed to be where they were. They finally turned to walk away. May seemed frustrated enough, and Drew assumed that would be enough to convince her to stay away from his contests. After all, why would she want to consider competing if she knew she had no chance of…

"I guess you're entering the Pokémon Contest, too?" she asked, turning back.

'Too?' She really wanted to enter? He had to laugh at that. No matter how pretty her Beautifly looked, she didn't stand a chance.

"Brilliant guess, genius."

She stared him down for a few more moments before finally turning away.

He watched her go, her Beautifly in toe and landing on top of her head as though to comfort her. He kept his smirk on his face until the group was out of sight, and when she was, it fell into a hard frown. He'd failed in his mission: clearly taunting this girl wouldn't scare her away. He'd just have to show her what she was truly up against.

He grabbed Roselia's Pokéball and released her. With a twirl and a slight petal storm surrounding her, she landed on the beach as he'd trained her to do in contests. She looked around her and then up to Drew, slightly confused.

"Let's go work on your solar beam, Roselia," Drew muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets and turning to climb back up the hill.

* * *

"Roselia, that last solar beam was phenomenal," Drew praised, patting her on the head and reaching for his PokéBlock dispenser.

They'd spent the last few hours out in the forest behind the resort, working on combining Roselia's solar beam and petal dance together. The last attempt was the closest they'd come to nailing it, but the petals just didn't flow around the beam as he'd envisioned. Drew was glad they still had two weeks before the contest to figure it out.

He was game to keep training, but he knew solar beam was a powerful move that took a decent amount of energy to pull off. Blasting a petal dance on top of it was a lot to ask of his Pokémon. She did it time and time again without complaint, but he could see her getting tired. She had always been a hard working Pokémon; she had never let him down.

"Here, Roselia," he smiled down at her, handing her some of her favorite Pokéblock.

She hummed her thanks and gratefully accepted the blocks, munching on them before Drew returned her to her Pokéball.

Once he'd left the beach, he walked past the resort down a marked path through the forest. He continued on until he found a small clearing next to a cliff, providing him ample space to bring out his Pokémon and practice. He was far enough away that he knew other people wouldn't disturb him in his practice. It was a beach day in a city known for its beaches, not a hike though the woods day.

After hours of practice, there was a lot of new footage to review on his PokéNav, and he was hoping he could figure out the right timing to call both the moves that would combine them but not outdo each other. That had always been his goal in combinations.

He was in the process of placing his PokéNav back into his pocket when he heard voices calling out.

"Good job, Torchic!"

 _No way_.

Sure enough, Drew turned slightly, and discovered the very same group of trainers he'd encountered earlier that day, May front and center, staring up in horror. He followed their gaze up onto the cliff, where he noticed the tiny orange Pokémon clinging on to a branch with what he recognized as bluk berries. Now that caught his attention; bluk berries made excellent Pokéblock.

Before he gave it a second thought, he was walking up the side of the cliff to the branch, planning to take the bluk berries when the Pokémon – a torchic – started to fall.

"Beautifly, use string shot, now!" May had shouted before he could even react.

Her speed impressed him somewhat, and suddenly he found himself with an idea. If her reactions were that perfect, maybe she was at least a good battler instead of a performer, and he could use a good practice battle. The bluk berries fell at his feet as the torchic was wrapped and pulled safely out of peril, May hugging it and making sure it was truly okay.

"Huh, that last attack had some real art to it," he couldn't stop himself from saying.

"…Thank you," she bit her tongue, instantly remembering who he was and their less-than-pleasant encounter earlier that morning.

She instantly demanded he hand over the bluk berries, and he smirked, finding it comical that she expected him to just hand them over so easily. He hated to admit it, but he found this girl interesting, and was fascinated by the chance to see her battle seeing as he wasn't impressed by her appeals.

To his delight, she accepted his challenge, and soon they were standing a few yards apart, staring each other down. Drew hoped to accomplish two things with this battle: One, discourage her from entering the contest at all and two, win himself some berries that would make add extra gloss and shine to his Roselia.

She called forth her Beautifly, and Drew watched as its wings sparkled in the sunlight. He figured she must have wanted to rely on its natural beauty to carry her through the appeals, and the Frisbee act would work just fine. Oh, he'd show her just how wrong she was.

He flicked his hair out of his eyes and summoned Roselia again, who sparkled just as much as Beautifly had. He heard the praises of May's companions behind her; if they could judge the power of his Pokémon based on just looks, he knew he had this match locked down, despite the type-difference. That's how confident he was in his Pokémon.

"I'm not losing to you!" May declared.

"Thank please, ladies first."

"Beautifly, tackle NOW!"

A standard attack for sure, and he had to admit to himself he was a little disappointed. With how fired-up she was, he at least expected a silver wind…unless…

Unless her Beautifly hadn't mastered silver wind yet; he suddenly understood. And she felt like she had to prove that she was good at this type of thing even without flashy moves like silver wind. Still, a move as simple as tackle? Well, if she wanted to stick to basic moves…

"Roselia, use petal dance," he said evenly.

May didn't even think to call for a dodge, thus eliminating his theory that she might have been a good battler, and further proving his belief that she was just a doe-eyed girl who wanted to win a ribbon because her butterfly Pokémon was shiny. It was people like this who made him want to be rude; who he wanted to scare them away from contests so they could be taken seriously.

"Stun spore, Roselia!" he ordered next.

Beautifly went down quickly; he could hear the panic in May's desperate pleas, and he was growing bored.

"That was easy," he admitted. "I expected a lot more from you than _that_."

She sounded like she was on the verge of tears, begging her Beautifly to get up and continue the battle. It was like she didn't expect herself to do that badly, either. Her own self esteem was shattered. And Drew almost couldn't stand to see a scene so pathetic.

"Roselia, finish it off with magical leaf."

Over Roselia's cry signifying that she was charging up her attack, Drew could hear May's companions giving her advice, telling her to calm down. Something she definitely needed. And then, something snapped. Her expression shifted from one of fear to something harder; more fired up.

"Silver wind, Beautifly, let's go!" May suddenly exploded, just as determined as he'd seen her on the beach that morning.

Without warning, Beautifly shot up into the air, releasing a powerful and pristine silver wind at his Roselia. It caught Drew completely off guard, and he wasn't able to compose himself before a shocked, "no way" escaped his lips. The silver wind didn't let up; it actually sent Roselia flying backwards.

He was still recovering from his shock when the giant Meowth balloon appeared, two people on the top saying something that sounded like an over-rehearsed speech and stealing the prized bluk berries from the battlefield. He also noticed May and her friends were suddenly completely disinterested in the battle, focusing all their attention on the two stealing the berries.

"This battle is over," May informed Drew curtly. "We know someone who needs those bluk berries!"

Drew mused to himself for a few moments, and realized that the situation suddenly had nothing to do with the contest or coordinating at all. This was about them helping out a friend apparently, and he saw no reason why he couldn't help them out...and show off, just a little.

Drew was snapped out of his thoughts when a huge jolt of electricity – a thunderbolt attack – was launched at the balloon. The power was incredible; hard to believe it had come from that boy's little Pikachu. Still, the attack had no effect on the escaping thieves, and the they boasted about how their balloon was electric-proof.

Electric proof, maybe…but they didn't say anything about…

He looked down and Roselia, and she looked back up to him, nodding.

"SOLAR BEAM, GO!"

Roselia launched the most powerful solar beam she had done all day, and he beamed at his partner. Oh yeah, with this much power and beauty on his side, he had the upcoming contest wrapped up. But now wasn't the time for those thoughts.

"It was you?" May questioned in disbelief.

He smiled back at her; for the first time since they'd met, it had been genuine.

"Not sure what's going on, but happy to assist," he clarified.

"Alright, Pikachu, thunderbolt 'em again!" the boy in blue cried.

Drew smirked, turning his attention back to the balloon. He saw a rare opportunity: to combine a grass move with an electric move. Something he'd both never tried, and had never seen anyone else do, either.

"Roselia, solar beam!" he asked one more time.

His Pokémon happily complied, and the two attacks merged together in a blinding streak of pure energy. It wasn't as appealing as he'd hoped, but a powerful attack nonetheless. He'd have to think about it for a battle round sometime. Forever analyzing moves…

When the beam collided with the balloon, a huge explosion sent the three villains flying, and the bluk berries plummeting to earth. Out of no where, May's torchic took off, mindlessly diving off a cliff and grabbing the berries in it's mouth. The Pokémon was clearly as thoughtless as its trainer. The torchic blinked a few times, suddenly realizing its mistake.

All of them stood in frozen, horrified shock, watching helplessly as the Torchic began its descent. May was the only one to make a move.

"Beautifly, string shot!" May called, not missing a beat.

He didn't understand how she could be so quick to think on her feet, yet not pull off the same skill during a battle. If she learned to handle the pressure of battles that well, she just might have a shot of winning a few of them here and there. Maybe she could go into gym battling, because she definitely lacked the style needed for contests.

Once the Torchic was safely in May's arms, Drew knew the battle wouldn't continue, so he recalled his Roselia. He wouldn't force her to train again that day. Summoning so many powerful solar beams had to have left her exhausted, even if she hadn't showed it. Forever the performer, just like he was; he couldn't have asked for a better partner than Roselia.

"Thanks for helping us, Drew," she approached him slowly.

"No need to thank me," he told her, adding a hair flick for good measure; he couldn't give off the impression he had a soft side. "You know what? We'll battle in a real contest, that is, assuming you can make your way through the preliminary round, first."

He gave her a short wave, and turned to walk away.

"Count on it, Mister…" he was surprised to hear her say from behind.

Something about her words forced a smirk out of him. Maybe it was the thought that she had a chance against him. Maybe it was that he knew he could finally convince her the contest world wasn't for her on a real stage.

* * *

Two weeks flew by, and before he knew it, it was contest day.

He'd registered for the contest a week early, so he was content to stay at his resort hotel, watch his "competition" train openly on the beach, and do a little training himself here and there. But not that much; Roselia was in the best shape she'd ever been in. She didn't need that much practice.

Competition was a term he'd used extremely lightly when watching those kids on the beach, all of them just as hopeful as that girl…what was her name? The one with the red bandana? He hadn't seen her all week, and now on the day of the contest, he had not seen her name on the registration list. It was just minutes before deadline. Maybe she'd wised up and left town with her friends, opting not to sign up for the contest at all and abandoning the notion of Pokémon coordination all together. He didn't dwell; he'd simply went to the backstage waiting rooms and prepped his Roselia.

He'd laughed to himself more than a few times throughout the week watching the people around him train. Some of them brought out some decent Pokémon, but a majority summoned commoners like Zigzagoons and Seedots. Stun spores and growls filled the public beach day after day, and he couldn't even believe this was a real contest. But after his first year in the circuit, he'd learned that the serious competition typically turned up at the end of the season, approaching the Grand Festival.

He was heading down the hall back to the common room for the coordinators backstage from a bathroom run before the contest began. He always drank too much coffee in the mornings on contest days. That was when he heard voices coming from the spare locker room with the door open.

"Hey, May! May!"

"Hello, May?!"

 _Huh_.

He peaked his head around the door for a brief second, and sure enough, there she was. She was practically shaking, clutching her PokéBlock case and trying to convince her friends she wasn't nervous at all. As if. He could hear the tremble in her voice from out in the hall.

Her friends were doing everything they could to calm her down, and it seemed to well work enough. So he left it at that, and returned to the common room. If by whatever miracle she made it through round one, he'd discourage her in the battle round, assuming whoever she battled first did squash her first.

The first hour was as boring as he'd expected it to be: Shroomishes spreading spores, Wingulls doing flips in the air and Belossums dancing about. Nothing spectacular about any of the acts at all. The audience cheered, though; they were just excited to get the season started.

"Contestants 23, 24 and 25, please prepare for your appeals," some official announced in the room, reading frantically over a clipboard.

He rose, and walked through the tunnel as the girl before him, number 23, finished her performance: her Spinda pulling off an above-average sunny day. Definitely one of the better appeals of the day, but he was about to steal the show.

When his name was called, he casually strolled up to the center stage and let the spotlight rain down on him. He was definitely in his element, and he threw a smirk at the camera, knowing May was watching from back stage.

Roselia emerged from her Pokéball, elegantly floating down onto the stage waiting for Drew's command. He'd decided to keep his appeal simple; a flashy combination that would score him major points in such a basic contest. He'd save what he dubbed his 'real' moves for the bigger and more important contests.

"Use petal dance!" Drew called.

Seconds later, the entire arena was swarmed with sparkles, pink petals and the sweet smell of roses. It was perfect, but he wasn't done just yet. He had every intention of showing the newbies what a proper stun spore was, which was the move he called next.

Roselia launched into a fast-paced spin, firing golden dust out.

"Add magical leaf!"

The glowing leaves sailed through, spreading the glittering air all throughout. He knew he'd already done more than enough to lock a solid score, but he had a point to prove. So he called for his big finish.

"Petal dance!" he ordered once again.

Just like they'd practiced, Roselia summoned so many petals, she was lost to all those watching the act. Only Drew knew where she was, which was how he knew exactly to time his final move, magical leaf.

The petals shattered, creating even more shine and aroma in the stadium. When his Roselia reappeared, she'd been posed in the same position he was in, both bowing and thanking the audience for their presence. The crowd went absolutely nuts, and everyone in the building knew this was no rookie coordinator like the ones they had been seeing that afternoon so far.

The 29.4 he'd been awarded was good, and he was proud of it. He didn't expect a perfect score, because he hadn't tried hard enough for one. But he didn't need to. He'd sail through the preliminaries, guaranteed.

* * *

He found her in the same place he'd last seen her, but this time, she was alone. He friends were no-doubt kicked out by the officials. After all, they weren't competing, so they didn't really get to stay backstage.

Now that she was by herself, she looked even more shaken up than before. She kept her eyes downcast, no doubt afraid to keep watching the TV screen to see the competition after his performance. Her Beautifly was faithfully resting atop her head, probably hoping to comfort her. It didn't seem to be working.

 _Perfect_.

"Yo," he greeted her easily. "I see you made it."

"Hello, Drew," she responded quietly.

No witty remark, no comments about his performance. He'd have to work to get something out of her.

"I trust you caught our performance," he taunted. "That was some true art."

That did it. She inhaled sharply, her nerves twisting into fury.

"What do you want?" she demanded. "Did you just come here to brag?"

 _Partially_.

"No, as a great coordinator, I came here to cheer you on," he lamented. "See, I want you to at least make it through the preliminary round."

"Well then just watch me, oh great one!" she fired back, standing up to meet his height.

Before he could reply, they were both cut off by the sounds of the crowd going wild again; just as much as they had for Drew's performance. That drew both their attention quickly.

He was stunned when he saw the Milotic on the screen, glowing green with a shimmering safe guard. The whole stadium was in awe of the dragon. Even May managed to comment on how beautiful it was and Drew bit the inside of his cheek. This coordinator, Robert, was definitely a wildcard he hadn't anticipated. He'd have to be careful.

* * *

Drew wasn't surprised to learn that May had been slated as number 50 in the contest, literally the last spot on the roster. After all, she'd shown up with barely enough time to sign up.

"Number 50, please make your way to the stage!" the same official announced in the common room, loud enough to be heard from the other locker room Drew and May were both in.

"Oh," May breathed, her lip twitched. "Number 50, that's me…"

"About time," Drew yawned. "I was starting to think you weren't really registered. Well, they're waiting. Go on out there and give them a show."

He smirked and flipped his hair, but May stayed glued in place. The poor girl looked like she was going to have a panic attack.

"Where do I go?" she practically whispered.

It took almost every fiber of Drew Hayden's existence not to burst out into tears of laughter at her question. She didn't even know how to get to the stage. She was going to be X-ed out in the appeal rounds, no doubt. So much for battling her agian, but he supposed it was for the best. This girl clearly wasn't cut out for the coordinator life. He'd never been more sure of that fact until that moment.

"Come on, it's this way," he said.

She stood up slowly, almost reluctantly, and followed him down the corridor to the tunnel that led out to the stage. She took one last look at him before she walked out in front of the crowd, anxiety dripping from her every step. Instead of returning to the common room, he waited at the tunnel, determined to watch her compete firsthand and not on a screen.

As per the tradition of contests, every first-time coordinator got an introduction. Vivian guided May to the center stage to do so.

"This is May's first time participating in a Pokémon Contest, so let's give her a warm welcome and watch her Pokémon's elegant entry," Vivian announced.

He studied her then, as if he were watching serious competition. This was what it all came down to: this was her moment to impress him, and if he were being honest with himself, he was hoping for something better than what he was expecting. It was clear she was going to use her Beautifly, so maybe she could…

She fell.

Drew almost couldn't believe his eyes. Before she could even release her Pokémon onto the stage, she slipped and went straight down. Her first appearance in a contest ever, in front of over a thousand people, and she had fallen on her ass. He should have expected as much.

The whole stadium was silent. It was like a bad omen: there's no way she'd recover from that. He didn't know much about her, but he already knew she was overemotional. He was expecting her to leave the stage after that and never do anything with contests ever again.

But she didn't.

May got up slowly, confirmed she was okay, and released her Beautifly onto the stage with her, the Pokémon's wings catching even the tiniest bits of light and reflecting magnificent colors.

The second he saw the Frisbee in her hand, he laughed to himself. Was she really going to try that whole gust-Frisbee catch thing again? Even after he told her how lame it was?

She surprised him, just like she had when she'd pulled off that silver wind. She ordered for a string shot, and her Beautifly complied, using its web like a whip, sending it straight back to May. She wasted no time in catching a releasing, throwing in 'again!' commands in between. And it was…impressive.

Not the Frisbee act, of course. Just the idea itself was about as lame as they come. But what amazed Drew was hoew in sync she was with her Pokémon. They worked together in perfect harmony, neither missing a step and totally focused on each other.

Even more so, Drew noticed she wasn't focusing on her Beautifly's appearance. A standard coordinator would have shown off Beautifly's looks in their appeal for sure and would have made it the center of the performance, because that was the safe and obvious choice. But by showing off the appeal in their relationship…well, whether she realized it or not, it was smart. And he, as a great coordinator, had to admit he could appreciate the sentiment.

How on earth was this that girl he met on the beach two weeks ago, completely unsure of herself and unaware of what she was doing? She was a completely different person when she was on the stage, and it fascinated him. So much so, he didn't notice his mouth hanging open while he watched them.

"Ready for this, Beautifly?" she asked, her face steely but her eyes a little distant.

That meant something bigger was coming. Drew inched a little closer.

She called for a return with gust, and Drew found himself holding his breath. Last time he'd watched her try this trick, she'd failed. He didn't know if two weeks was enough time for her to perfect that. The Frisbee came flying back at her, the high rate of speed carrying it. She grabbed it and – although she almost dropped it – managed to catch it. He saw her exhale in relief. He himself did the same.

Just when he thought she was done, she called for a spinning silver wind, which confused him. Silver wind was a great move, especially in contests, but that was if you focused your entire appeal on it. Or your other moves had the same visual effects. Her Frisbee act in the beginning didn't match the tornado of shining light her Beautifly had created in the center of the stage before them. Although it was a gorgeous ending to her first appeal, none of it had flowed together; her two move sets had been completely unrelated. He knew her points would suffer for it. That wasn't him being cocky or rude or anything of the sort; that was him being logical, with more contest experience than almost everyone here.

Still, both moves separately were nice enough. Beautifly landed gently on her head while May posed with her arms held out, giving the illusion that she had marvelous wings of her own. It signaled the end of her performance, and he hummed to himself. She'd done much better than he anticipated.

"What do ya know?" he smiled to himself. "That wasn't too bad at all."

The judges awarded her with a 24.9, which, with all technical things considered, wasn't horrible. It was one of the higher scores he'd seen all day. But her face fell, meaning she was hoping for something higher. If she could have found a better rhythm, she might of had a better shot at a higher score.

He turned to walk back to the common room while the judges gave their commentary, summoning Roselia out of her Pokéball on the way.

"Roselia," he said as the pair walked. "I need a rose, please."

* * *

The common room was full of nerves as everyone awaited the final decisions of the judges. No one noticed her when she walked in, sitting down on a bench and sighing.

He took his chance.

The rose Roselia had given him was perfect: thornless and a deep shade of red. He noticed just how it matched her bandana as he held it out before her. She looked up at him, eyes wide and a bit taken back.

"A good performance, May," he explained.

Someone whistled in the background. He ignored them. She didn't seem to notice.

Her eyes lit up like he'd never seen before, and she looked the happiest she had all day. He knew what that meant: false hope, which he was not trying to instill at all.

While she thanked him, he noticed the blush that dusted her face, and red flags shot up in his head.

It instantly occurred to him that he might have given her the wrong message.

"Not for you; it's for your Beautifly," he covered himself. "It's obvious that the coordinator still has a lot of training to do."

The happiness was gone almost as quickly as it came. The fire he was so used to seeing from her blazed behind her eyes.

"Well I guess we can't all be as good as you," was her rebuttal.

She glared at him as he simply flicked his hair, planting his feet and not moving away from her. That drove her crazy, but she didn't get rid of the rose. That either meant she still appreciated it, or she kept it in spite of him. He didn't care much either way.

It was a full four minutes of silence between stood between them. She was fuming on the bench next to him while he just stood there, loving it. Honestly, he was waiting for her to walk away, but she never did. May held her ground, and he stood his.

Vivian's voice echoed through the common room as she reappeared on the screen. The commercial break had ended and she was ready to announce who was moving on to the battle rounds. May shot up next to him, her hands clasped together and shaking.

He didn't know what surprised him more with the results: the fact that she'd made it into the top eight, or the fact that he had come in second. The coordinator with the Milotic, Robert, had beaten him. It was a bit of a blow to his confidence, but he couldn't let that show.

"You made it…" he admitted. "Because…"

"I know, you wanna say it was all because of Beautifly," she shot back, but she couldn't maintain the anger in her face, too elated to be thorough. "Who cares?! My Beautifly and I are moving on to the secondaries!"

The pictures on the screen disappeared, being shuffled to match up the trainers for their battles. When they settled on the screen, Drew couldn't contain the snort that ripped from his throat.

"Don't tell me," she begged, as if it could change anything.

"Me against you?" he laughed. "That'll be fun."

He didn't need to face her to feel her glare on him. So he walked away from her, chuckling at how perfect this all was. Their battle was first, so it'd be over quick. Then he wouldn't have to waste any more time on this girl and he could completely focus on his season. Besides, he had Robert to worry about.

* * *

They met again on the battlefield, Vivian explaining the rules and the time limit. Five minutes? He'd only need two, if that.

When she'd summoned her Beautifly once again, for what he assumed would be the last time he'd ever see it, he called out his Roselia. From their earlier battle, he already knew the type difference wouldn't matter.

He didn't give her the courtesy first move he extended to her in their last battle; he called the first attack instantly.

"Magical leaf, Roselia!"

May did exactly what Drew expected her to do: she called for a gust hoping to disperse Roselia's attack. Such a novice.

The leaves hit Beautifly straight on, despite being delayed for a second or two before straightening out on their path to hit Beautifly. May hadn't even called for a dodge or another counter. She was battling worse than the last time.

"You see, magical leaf is the kind of attack that _always_ hits its mark," Drew explained. "You could never repel it with a simple gust. I'm sorry to have to tell you that."

A huge chunk of her points vanished. Drew kept the momentum going.

"Roselia, stun spore!"

Her counter was to call for string shot…what on earth was she thinking? What kind of comeback was that? This was pathetic, and it almost embarrassed him to have to participate in this battle in front of so many people. She had successfully proved one thing: she wasn't worthy to face him.

"Magical leaf!" he called again, the string shot being cut instantly and easily.

That was the last straw for May; she switched into full on desperate mode. She called for silver wind: her best move. Although flashy and pretty to look at, it was easy to stop. Roselia stopped the silver wind by simply firing off her famous petal dance. Somehow, May managed to call for her Beautifly to dodge.

It was clear that May wanted to finish the battle quick when she'd hastily fired off her silver wind; a wish that Drew would grant, because it really wasn't fun battling someone so inexperienced.

The adrenaline of battle was kicking in, and Drew was no longer in the mood to play around. He was there to prove a point to this girl, not to play around with her. The hilarity of it all had worn off. His smirk was gone, as well as his playful attitude. This fight was a complete joke; he'd never been in an easier fight in his life. Almost anyone could see that, and it was annoying that she still thought she belonged here.

This was _his_ stage. This was _his_ contest. This was _his_ ribbon. This was _his_ season.

He was going to become a Top Coordinator, no matter what. And no one was going to stop him. He'd take down anyone ruthlessly, especially inexperienced children who thought they could just come in and undermine the importance of the contest circuit.

What May hadn't realized is that by sending her Beautifly up into the air to dodge, she'd left her Pokémon wide open for one final attack.

Drew ordered a solar beam, knowing May wouldn't counter in time. She weakly tried a string shot – whatever that was supposed to do – but it was too late. Roselia fired off the signature grass type move, both devastatingly powerful and blindingly eloquent. It hit its mark directly, and Beautifly went down, unable to continue the fight.

He watched May from across the stage as she fell to her knees over her Pokémon, on the verge of tears and all. Really? Tears? This was no place for amateurs, and no place for tears. He'd learned that the hard way himself once before. So with a final flick of his hair and a bow, he left the arena, off to wait for his next battle.

He wasn't surprised when May didn't return to the common room, but her saw her shuffle awkwardly into the private room she'd been in when he first found her in while on his way to his next battle with Robert. She was crying, and berating herself to her friends.

That was that, he'd thought to himself; she'd never touch a contest again. Not only could she not handle one loss without breaking down, but her entire performance had been weak. And the way he'd ended the battle without losing any points at all was probably a wake up call for her. It wasn't that he was completely over confident like she'd though; the simple fact was that he was good at contests, and she was not. There had to be some embarrassment on her part with the way she did today.

Drew had also lost the first contest he'd ever competed in, but at least his first ever appeal score was a 28.6. At least he made it to the final round against who would become one of his best and only friends, Solidad. And at least he'd managed to get Solidad's points down to the halfway mark by the end of the battle. He had started off strong, and he'd only grown stronger since that day.

May seemed like the type of person to walk away from whatever had discouraged her.

He'd never see her again, so he pushed the thoughts out of his head and made his way to his battle with Robert.

* * *

The battle was grueling, and not in a good way.

Drew had always enjoyed going up against coordinators who could give him a challenge. Robert was the exception. Perhaps it was because he'd underestimated everyone here at this contest. He'd spent so much time obsessing over putting May in her place and laughing off the novelty of coordinators in the contest overall that he hadn't properly prepared himself nor his Roselia to face off against Robert's Milotic.

And he paid for it. Hard.

Robert seemed to have come out of nowhere. Drew had never seen him before in any contests or read about him anywhere. He just appeared, and he dominated the battlefield. His Milotic was the very definition of power and grace, the ultimate combination to win a contest.

He hadn't even gotten a full quarter off of Robert's points by the time the five-minute battle had ended. He was just happy with the fact that his Roselia had even managed to fight that long with some of the attacks she took. Still, he took the loss hard. And he stayed until the end to study Robert's technique in the final battle of the contest. The kid who went up against Robert in the last round did worse than Drew.

When the judges handed Robert the ribbon, Drew took that as his queue to leave. That ribbon should have been his, easily.

Drew learned right then and there that the contest season would be full of wild cards, and he could underestimate no one. Although he was relieved Solidad wasn't competing in the contest circuit in Hoenn that year, that didn't mean he wouldn't go up against other talented coordinators.

Despite this, he still had over eleven months and tons of contests to earn his five ribbons, so he wasn't worried at all. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to be training the entire time, either.

He was the first one out of the contest hall, much to his content. He didn't want to get stopped by anyone: no reporters or fans or anything. The empty courtyard in front of him was a blessing. He wanted to get to his hotel room, order room service, and give his Roselia a break before they left Slateport the next morning.

It seemed he was in the clear when he heard his name called from behind.

"Drew!"

He stopped in his tracks, turning to surprisingly find May chasing after him, her friends in toe. She seemed a lot more calm than she had been a few hours ago, the shock of her loss finally absorbed, he supposed.

"What is it, May; you want a rematch?" he teased, hoping she wouldn't throw his own loss in his face; he was embarrassed enough as it was, and he was going to make up for it.

"Next time, I won't be the loser," she smirked back at him.

What? Next time?

 _What_?

She still wanted to compete? She wanted him to know she planned on competing? Wasn't her loss to him earlier that day enough to scare her away? He couldn't believe it.

"Oh yeah?" he responded dumbly, totally taken off guard by her confidence, but he recovered quickly enough. "We'll just see. Of course, I'll be a lot stronger, too, remember?"

He said it like a warning, as if he was giving her one last chance to back down. Turning to walk away, he threw a short wave over his shoulder and his smirk fell. He found himself totally at a loss for words.

This girl with a red bandana…she was an enigma. She barely had anything going for her; all she had was a pretty Pokémon and an unfathomable amount of determination, with a short temper to pair. Everything else she had shown him gave him nothing but doubt regarding her abilities to make it very far. Maybe she'd win one or two ribbons this season, if she was lucky and if she could improve her contest performance overall.

Her appeals needed work; her battling even more so. She was disorganized and unconventional, to say the least. She had shown some improvement and potential in very short spurts, only to stumble almost immediately after. One step forward, four steps back for sure. In truth, she could have potential if she were to train her Beautifly better. But Drew was sure she'd never, ever be a threat to him, his title, or his ribbon cup.

Then, after a hard season, she'd surely quit. One loss might not have been enough to discourage her like he'd originally hoped and/or assumed, but multiple losses would beat it all out of her. She'd abandon the dream when she saw how brutal some coordinators could actually be, just as many other rookies he'd seen before had. The contest circuit was unforgiving that way.

His hands clasped together behind his neck as he walked. The sunset was painting the sky of Slateport City a multitude of different colors. A gentle breeze rustled past him, carrying the smell of salt water from the beaches. The next morning, he'd leave this place, onto the next town and the next contest. And he idly wondered just where May and her three friends planned to go next. Or where she would lose next, to be more accurate.

May would learn, and he had been her first lesson; of that, he was sure. Drew Hayden had never been more certain of this one, absolute truth: he'd forget her quickly.

He'd forget that girl with the red bandana.

He'd forget May.


	2. Black Coffee

**Chapter Two: Black Coffee–** In which Drew and Solidad chat, and Drew recalls when he'd first met her.

 **Author's note:**  
\- I stopped watching the anime after May wasn't a main part of the show anymore. I wish she'd get a side series of her and her contest rivals' travels through Johto and beyond. I'd watch that in a heartbeat. (I miss Solidad, sometimes Harley and I miss Drew and May more than any other characters on the show.)  
\- Black Coffee: coffee served as a beverage without the addition of cream or sweeteners.

* * *

The clock hanging on the wall behind him sung out a tacky song, indicating that it had struck 11 p.m.

How such a nice hotel could have such a gaudy thing, he'd never know.

Drew rolled his eyes and took a seat at one of the video phones in the hotel's main lobby. Although he would have prefered to call on his PokéNav, he didn't want to disturb his Pokémon while they were resting. He set his coffee down inserted his credit card into a pay slot on the video phone, quickly punching in the only phone number he'd ever memorized. It was about 5 p.m. in the Sinnoh region; exactly when his friend told her she'd be available for a conversation.

Coffee at this hour was never the best idea, but there was a timeless tradition that Drew kept with Solidad.

* * *

 _After he'd lost to her in his first contest, she'd approached him with an easy smile and a pat on the back._

 _"Drew, right?" she had asked him._

 _His lip trembled as he did everything he could to keep his tears from falling. He had done so well in his first contest ever up to the final battle, and the loss that he'd just endured was absolutely heartbreaking. His Pokémon had worked so hard to get him to that point, and he'd let his partner down with poor timing and bad judgments. His opponent, Solidad, was just too good._

 _"Yeah, that's me," he mumbled, not meeting her in the eye._

 _Although he knew it was good tradition for the two participants of the final match to shake hands after their battle, it still stung his pride. He hadn't expected to lose. He hadn't realized he had a lot to learn about all of this before he could get to the skill level of the coordinator standing before him._

 _"Listen, don't beat yourself up," she told him sincerely. "That was one heck of a battle, and did Vivian say this was your first contest? I've never seen a coordinator make it this far on their first go."_

 _Her praise caught him off guard. How could someone with such powerful and incredible Pokémon be so kind? How could she not take pride in her victory? Just who was this girl with pink hair?_

 _"Yeah, I guess," Drew exhaled, finally meeting her gaze. "Your Pokémon were awesome…Solidad?"_

 _"Correct," she laughed. "But seriously, some of your combinations left me breathless. I'd love to talk to you more about it all, and maybe clear the air a little after that battle. Are you free to go get coffee or maybe a light dinner after all this?"_

 _He furrowed his brows, looking for any sign of anything on her face. The only thing he found was a warm smile and trusting, friendly eyes. It scared him a bit; he never made an effort to get close to people, because he knew from past experiences that people sucked. He was always better off on his own._

 _"Are you…are you asking me on a date?" he inquired skeptically._

 _He knew he was good looking. He'd met plenty of girls who swooned at his hair flick and adored his Roselia to a point of almost obsession. It was a little too much to bear some times. He avoided it when ever he could._

 _"What?" Solidad blinked a few times, composed herself and then laughed lightly. "No, no. I think I'm a little too old for you…I'm just interested in getting to know you is all. I've never met someone with so little experience who performed like he was a professional, and I'd love to talk to you about the contest, coordinator to coordinator."_

 _She gave him another reassuring smile, and an idea formed in his head. This girl before him – who looked to be about 18 or 19 at his best guess – was clearly someone who'd been doing this for a while. She had insight and expertise she could share with him if he prodded her for it. The opportunity to learn from an expert was too good to pass up._

 _"The place next to the Starview Hotel," Drew said as he reached his hand out to shake her's. "There's a café right there on the corner. They make the best espresso in all of Hoenn. I'll be there at 7:30 tonight."_

 _She shook his hand and nodded, and Drew turned to leave the stage so the presentation of the ribbon could commence. He didn't expect much to come from their conversation: just a few minutes of getting some coordinating tips was really all he'd wanted._

 _It was a little awkward when she'd first arrived and took a seat in the booth across from him. He had to remind himself not to dwell on the fact that he'd just suffered his first defeat because of this girl, and now they were having coffee. It was weird, but he couldn't let it show._

 _The waitress arrived and took their orders first thing: a small cup of espresso for him and a hazelnut brew for her. They didn't speak until the drinks were placed in front of them, Solidad producing a large bill to cover the cost of both orders and the tip. Drew protested, but she wouldn't relent. Suddenly, it all made sense to him._

 _"You didn't have to do that," Drew huffed, falling back into his seat. "I lost to you fair and square, I don't need your pity."_

 _A knowing smile graced her features._

 _"It's nothing like that; I was just being nice. Haven't you ever been nice to your friends before?"_

 _"I don't really do the whole friendship thing," he informed her, taking a sip from his drink._

 _"Well where does that leave us, then?" she asked politely._

 _He almost choked on his drink. She invited him out because she considered him a friend? How did that work? How'd she come to that conclusion? They'd only just met on the battlefield hours before. All they were to each other were competition; nothing more, nothing less._

 _"I, err, well–"_

 _She just smiled sweetly at him before taking a sip of her own coffee, and setting it down._

 _"Your Roselia was gorgeous today," she commented while he recovered. "Her first petal dance and stun spore combination had a lot of the other coordinators talking in the locker room."_

Ah, talk of contests. Sweet common ground.

 _"Same to your Lapras," he told her. "I didn't think it was possible to pull off such an incredible appeal with such a large Pokémon. That blizzard he pulled was unreal. You absolutely owned the entire stage."_

 _"Wow, thank you!"_

 _"How long have you been competing?" he asked her next._

 _"Almost three years now," she answered. "I knew I wasn't meant to be a trainer, so when I'd heard about coordinating, I hopped a fairy from Kanto to here and I've been in contests ever since."_

 _They fell into an easy conversation, then. It was almost like an interview; each taking turns asking the other questions, listening to responses and sharing their stories. Solidad inquired about his Pokémon, and he asked her about previous contests she'd been in. He'd learned more about this girl before him than he'd learned about any other human on the planet in such a short time. But she was so interesting; the places she'd been, the people she'd met, the things she'd seen…all of it. And he couldn't get enough._

 _What really surprised Drew was just how well he and Solidad had gotten along with each other. They both had similar interests, opinions and tastes, which was an oddity to him. He never really got along with anyone this well before._

 _They stayed in that booth and spoke for hours, coffee long finished and forgotten._

 _"My first year was more trial and error than anything else," she admitted. "I didn't focus so much on the winning as I did just trying things out. Seeing what worked and what didn't, and learning how other people handled themselves as well. It was a big help, but even now I'm still learning. Today was a good example of that; I learned so much just by watching you perform."_

 _"You're kidding," Drew gasped. "How could someone as talented as you have possibly learned anything from me? You beat me."_

 _She shook her head._

 _"Coordinators never stop learning, Drew. If one ever thinks they know everything, they're going to fall behind. I remember my first contest; I didn't even make it through the second round of battling."_

 _"No way."_

 _"Way," she laughed at his surprise. "You reminded me a lot of my younger self today. I was just as determined; I wanted to win from the beginning and never stop. But that loss humbled me; it's why this will be my first year going for the Grand Festival. I've spent so much time these last few years developing the bond between my Pokémon and I. I saw that same bond with you and your Roselia."_

 _"Yeah, she was my first Pokémon," Drew snickered. "I found her in the park of my hometown one day and tried to find her trainer, but she didn't have one. I knew I couldn't take her home, because my parents– well, my dad, anyway…he hated Pokémon. But I grew to love this Pokémon so much, so I'd sneak out all the time to see her. We became good friends, and the day I turned 10, I told my father goodbye, found Roselia and asked her if she wanted to come with me. We've been together ever since."_

 _"Hmm," Solidad hummed, nodding her head. "That seems about right. You can really tell just how much you two care about each other from the way you both work so well as a team."_

 _"Yeah."_

 _Drew was about to ask her another question when the waitress from earlier awkwardly approached them._

 _"I'm sorry to interrupt you two," she said shyly. "But we close in five minutes and I just wanted to give you a heads up. We hate to kick out customers, but –"_

 _It was then that both he and Solidad realized they were the only two remaining people in the entire café. The clock read 10 minutes to midnight; they'd been there for much longer than either of them realized._

 _Drew hunched, disappointed. He still had so much he'd wanted to ask her. They had barely even spoken of the contest that day, and what they thought of the other coordinators they'd faced._

 _"No need to explain, we understand," Solidad responded reassuringly. "We're sorry if we've been a burden."_

 _"Oh no, oh no!" the girl waved her arms nervously. "The fact that you stayed so long just means you enjoyed your coffee! We sincerely appreciate your business and hope we'll see you again!"_

 _Solidad nodded, sliding out of the booth and standing to the side, waiting for him to get up as well. They both thanked the waitress again and walked out the door._

 _Once outside, the night air around them, Drew looked back up at Solidad._

 _"Well, thanks for tonight, Solidad," he said. "It's been great, really."_

 _"Thanks for recommending this place," she smiled for the billionth time that night; Drew had never met someone who was as kind and happy a person as she was. "You were definitely right; best coffee I've had in Hoenn, hands down."_

 _"Where are you off to now?" he asked her._

 _He had planned to walk her to her hotel, seeing as he was staying at the hotel right next to the café. It was the gentlemanly thing to do, after all…and it gave him an excuse to keep talking to her. It fascinated him: the thought that he actually wanted to continue the conversation. He'd never felt that with another person before._

He'd never felt like he'd had a friend before, not counting his Roselia.

 _"Probably to the park downtown to get a little training in," she laughed sheepishly, as if she were embarrassed. "That coffee has me a little hyper."_

 _"But, why?" he was so confused. "You just won today…why do you have to keep training?"_

 _She smirked._

 _"Like I said earlier: coordinators can never stop trying to improve themselves if they wanna stay ahead."_

 _Drew pondered over her words for a few seconds, and nodded. After his loss today, he could definitely see how right she was. And if she trained that much, it was no wonder she was so good. He'd have to start training more, too…_

 _"Tell ya what," she said, reaching into her coat and pulling out her PokéNav. "Let's make this a regular thing. Every time we compete together or are in the same area, let's get together and talk."_

 _Drew smiled._

 _"Sounds good."_

 _They exchanged numbers and parted ways, Drew walking up to his hotel room and falling on his bed lost in thought. He'd experienced a lot of firsts that day: entered a contest, lost a contest and made a friend, just to name a few._

 _The day hadn't turned out like he thought it was going to at all, but here he was at the end of it, and he didn't mind one bit. He now knew what he wanted to do: he vowed to himself he'd get to Solidad's level. The first step would be just what she had done. He'd spend this first year preparing. He'd work hard to train, build a respectable team and learn just what competing actually meant before he truly started._

* * *

They'd stuck to this routine since the day they'd met. It was a tradition that had morphed over the year they'd been friends: even if they weren't together, they'd set up video calls after every contest they'd been in and talk about it. And if they weren't available to talk after, they'd arrange a day to do so.

Texting was also a regularity between them. On the mornings of contest days, they'd be sure to send each other, 'good luck' and 'I'll be watching' messages, reassuring the other that they had someone to cheer them on, which was never truly an issue. They'd both steadily built fan bases, even though they both tried to avoid the spotlight as much as they possibly could. It was insane how close they were; they were practically brother and sister.

Solidad picked up on the fourth dial tone, her bright face lighting up the screen of Drew's monitor.

"So what is that, ribbon number three for you?" she grinned.

Hello's and simple greetings were past them now. They were too close to waste their precious call time with those.

"Of course," he smirked, flicking his hair. "Did you expect anything else?"

"I can't get over that solar beam and petal dance combination you pulled off today," she commented. "The TV in my room didn't do it justice; I'm sure it was even more exhilarating in person. Sorry I couldn't be there for you today."

"Don't sweat it," he shrugged her off, still smiling. "I had a big enough audience."

"I don't doubt it."

"Okay, but we can't not talk about that water pulse and psychic combination your Slowbro pulled off," Drew said. "I've never seen such refined control over water like that. You nailed it, Solidad, really. I was surprised you didn't score higher."

They'd also made sure they watched each other's contests on TV. There were days when both had to perform, but thanks to the timezone differences between the regions, it wasn't too much of an issue. And if there ever were conflicting times, they'd get on the contest organization sites and stream the recordings of live broadcasts. They'd always found a way to watch each other.

"Yeah, well, ya know…super contests and what not," she laughed. "The rules over here are a lot different than regular contests back in Hoenn and Kanto."

"No doubt," Drew admitted. "You have four ribbons over there now. Are you going for Top Coordinator? I know the Sinnoh Grand Festival is coming up."

"I don't think so actually," she paused, and he looked at her skeptically. "It would be my first title, and I'm not sure I'd want it to come from this region. I've always dreamed of earning my Top Coordinator status in Kanto, with regular contests. These super contests aren't really for me."

"They really don't seem like your style," he agreed.

"The dressing up is a bit much…" she laughed. "Using seals is kind of weird, too. I don't want the audience focusing on me or what my Pokéball is doing. I want them to truly appreciate my Pokémon as they are. It's been cool seeing Sinnoh but I think I'll stick around for one more ribbon and head back home."

"A pretty bold move, earning a spot in a Grand Festival and not actually entering," he commented.

"I wouldn't be the first."

"Touché."

"Alright, alright, enough about me!" Solidad readjusted in her seat, facing the camera full on now. "Tell me about the other people you saw today. Anyone interesting?"

Solidad had only managed to watch parts of Drew's contest that day, as she had her own contest to worry about. Drew also kept up with the highlights of her day. They were always genuinely interested in watching each other perform.

"There was one girl who had a decent Vulpix," he thought back to the entries. "It's going to make a great Ninetails when it evolves. One kid did an interesting combination with a Butterfree; it was some mix of sunny day and sleep spore. It could be tweaked a little, but the contrast of the purple powder and the sunshine definitely have some potential. I'll have to try it with my Masquerain at some point."

"I have to admit, I was a bit surprised when you told me you'd caught a Masquerain," Solidad said. "Doesn't really seem like your type of Pokémon."

"I thought I'd try something new."

"Again, doesn't seem like a Drew thing to do," Solidad chuckled. "You're not really a risk-taker."

"It's not really taking a risk," Drew responded. "I don't plan on debuting Masquerain until he's had a lot more practice. He's got some moves with some potential."

"I don't doubt it, but I am curious as to what inspired you to catch it."

Drew bit his lip; of course he knew what inspired him to catch it, but he told himself it didn't mean anything. He just wanted to own a Pokémon that could pull off that impressive move he'd seen in that first contest…

He had told himself he was going to forget her after that day, and for the most part, he had. But what he couldn't forget was that Beautifly's silver wind, and all of the ideas he had about combinations he could pull with it if he was able to use the move as well.

"Was it another coordinator?" Solidad pressed.

"Yeah…" Drew said slowly. "This one girl I saw had a Beautifly back in the Slateport contest…I battled her and her Pokémon launched a silver wind. Really a top notch move; it got me wanting a Pokémon that could do it as well."

Solidad paused, and Drew could tell she was thinking.

"Oh, I remember!" Solidad exploded. "That girl, she had a red bandana! She fell down, poor thing, but it was only her first contest, right? What was her name again…?"

"May."

"May?"

"May."

"She was a little shaky, I'll admit," Solidad thought aloud. "I definitely agree with you, though. Her Beautifly was wonderful, and the silver win she pulled just as much."

"Exactly; just imagine what an experienced coordinator could do with a move like that."

"Well, I'm sure she's been getting better with it. Not everyone's a pro from the start like you were."

"Are you kidding?" Drew gaped. "Solidad, you watched that whole contest. Her appeal was garbage and I trashed her in our battle in the first round. She didn't even touch my points."

Solidad shrugged, taking a long sip of her drink before setting her mug down and smiling to herself.

"Like I said, not everyone starts off perfectly," she repeated. "At least that girl–"

"May," he was quick to correct her.

"Right, May," Solidad corrected, smirking even harder; it made Drew purse his lips. "At least _May_ knew enough to go into that contest with the right type of Pokémon. I'm sure the further she goes, the better she'll get. That's how it always is."

"I don't think she's entered any contests since then," Drew responded. "I watch every contest in Hoenn, and so do you. Unless I missed one, I haven't seen her pop up again."

"Neither have I," Solidad agreed. "Maybe she's just reorganizing herself a bit! I hope she didn't quit after one loss; it's a shame when someone gives up on themselves so easily."

"She told me she planned on entering more contests," Drew responded lazily, leaning on the back legs of his chair and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Oh, so you talked to her after your battle?" Solidad raised her eyebrows. "And you caught a Pokémon because of her? What could that mean?"

Drew nearly spit out his coffee. He lost his balance and his chair fell forward, the remaining coffee in his cup sloshing around. Some of it spilled out onto the desk. He cursed and reached for some napkins to wipe it up.

"How can you drink straight black coffee?" Solidad questioned. "I love coffee and I can't even do that."

"How can you drink…whatever it is you're drinking?"

Okay, not his best comeback ever… In fact, it was definitely one of his worst ones. It instantly was placed on Drew Hayden's top five worst comebacks ever list. But to be fair, he was completely caught off guard and flustered by her comments.

"It's chamomile tea," she responded in a matter-of-fact tone. "Lots of health benefits. You'd like it if you tried it."

He studiously ignored her, working to clean up the mess he accidentally made and trying to dispel the feelings of warmth in his face. Solidad just laughed harder.

"Relax, Drewbie," she calmed him. "It was a joke."

"Have I ever told you that you're not funny?" he muttered, tossing the coffee soaked napkins into the trashcan next to him.

"I've been told I'm hilarious, actually," she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Well whoever told you that, they lied."

"Doubtful."

It was silent then for a few seconds. Drew was wracking his brain to think of something, anything else to talk about. He definitely didn't want the conversation to steer back to May. And he definitely wasn't going to tell Solidad he'd given her a rose with how she reacted earlier. Not that the rose meant anything, of course. It was totally for her Beautifly's excellent performance despite having the worst coordinator ever training it.

Of course, Solidad didn't let it go.

"Well, I think it's a good thing you took inspiration from her," she said. "I always say you can always learn something from every performance. Maybe she'll take some inspiration from you and get better."

"Please. She has no chance in the contest circuit and you know it."

"I think she does. I think she'll surprise you."

"She won't."

"Said the boy who keeps talking about her."

Well, damn. Solidad was not only a great coordinator, but apparently she was a master of words as well. Drew had never once been annoyed with Solidad in the time that he'd known her, but in those moments, he was pretty close.

"Anyway," Drew said, intending to regain control of the conversation. "So what's your next contest going to be?"

Solidad took the hint; she could see Drew was getting uncomfortable, and she let it go…for now.

"I think I'll head to Hearthome City," Solidad said. "That contest happens in a few weeks, which gives me some time to head up to Snowpoint City. I wanna go check out some ice types, maybe add a new Pokémon to my roster. I haven't really done much catching since I've been here."

"Oh, yeah? What are you looking to get?"

For the rest of their phone call, they stayed strictly on Solidad and her journey. She told him that she planned to earn a fifth ribbon and head home to Pewter City to do some re-evaluating. Then, when the next season started, she'd enter the Kanto circuit and work to become a homegrown Top Coordinator; a rare title indeed. Most coordinators earned their ribbon cup in other regions.

After an hour, Solidad informed Drew that she needed to be at the Pokémon Center to pick up her companions. They were waiting for her and she needed to get to them before the Center closed for the evening.

"Where are you heading next?" Solidad questioned, gathering up her things in her room hotel room.

"Fallarbor Town for ribbon number four," he revealed. "I have a few weeks to get there, so I'll be thinking about what I'll want to do with Roselia on the way."

"I'll be looking forward to seeing it," Solidad smiled. "Bye, Drew."

"Talk to you later, Solidad."

The screen went black, and Drew relaxes back into his chair. Truth be told, he'd been planning to use Masquerain in the contest; get him used to performing with his newest team member. Now, that wasn't an option.

If Solidad saw that Pokémon performing so soon, he'd never hear the end of it; especially if he used Masquerain's silver wind.

He supposed it was a sign; he and Masquerain did need a bit more time and practice together, but with the ease he had won his last three contests with, he supposed he could afford to take a little bit of a chance and use a new Pokémon.

Roselia it was; he'd been unstoppable with her so far this season, save for the first contest. His system was working. If it wasn't broken, he shouldn't fix it, right?

Drew pulled his credit card out of the machine, bid goodnight to the person at the front desk and made his way up to his hotel room. It was almost one in the morning, and he'd had a long day. Between competing in the contest and training all week for it, not even the coffee he drank could keep him up much longer.

He pushed the door to his room quietly, careful not to disturb his sleeping Pokémon. Roselia was taking up one side of the bed while Masquerain was resting on the chair in the corner. He smiled at both of them; they'd both worked hard that week, and both deserved a day off tomorrow.

The next few days would be all about traveling. He preferred to arrive at his location early before starting his training. That way, he got there quickly and had more time to observe those who he'd be competing against.

Drew slipped into a comfortable tee shirt and shorts, and settled down into the bed gently not to disturb his Roselia. The soft mattress and cool sheets forced a yawn out of him and he worked to get comfortable, knowing he'd be out soon with the exhaustion he'd started feeling. He shifted onto his side and reached to turn off the table lamp when he noticed his newest Pokémon and friend across the room from him.

Masquerain…why a Masquerain? His tired mind wandered through the conversation he'd had with Solidad.

" _I have to admit, I was a bit surprised when you told me you'd caught a Masquerain."_

 _"Doesn't really seem like your type of Pokémon."_

 _"Again, doesn't seem like a Drew thing to do."_

 _"You're not really a risk-taker."_

She was right. He wasn't a risk-taker, nor had he been the type to see the appeal in a Masquerain before Slateport. His excuse that he'd told Solidad and himself was that he'd wanted a silver wind, but he knew that wasn't entirely the case. He wouldn't have caught a Pokémon he planned to use in contests based on one move alone.

Was there really an alternate reason? Solidad seemed to think so. He, however, wasn't convinced. It was for combinations; that was it.

The light clicked off, Drew curled up under the blanket and closed his eyes. He didn't want to waste anymore time thinking of things that didn't matter.

Eventually he drifted off to sleep, dreaming of silver winds and red bandanas.


	3. Fallarbor Town

**Chapter Three: Fallarbor Town–** In which Drew makes plans, meets a new friend, May and Drew compete in her second contest, and things start to change.

 **Author's notes:**  
\- Based on the episodes, "Pros and Con Artists" and "Come What May!"  
\- Fallarbor Town was always my favorite in the original Ruby and Sapphire and ORAS. I loved the concept of a town living in the shadow of a volcano and full of fossils and meteors. Also, the music on Route 113 was and still is my favorite song in any Pokémon game, ever.

* * *

Drew's plan for the rest of the contest year was simple.

It was four months into the circuit; he only needed two more ribbons, and he had eight months to get them. He planned to earn them quickly, as in, within the next two months quickly. Then he'd have an entire half of the year to prepare himself for the Grand Festival. He'd spend every second of that time wisely, studying and attending contests, working with his team and creating combinations and strategies that would solidify his place among the best coordinators in the world.

It was foolproof.

He could picture it: he'd earn his title before Solidad earned hers, not that it was ever a goal he'd thought of before. But he could dream about it; the coordinator who'd served as his mentor more than his own parents did… He could just imagine how proud of him she'd be.

The trip to Fallarbor town was relatively painless; it only took him four days to arrive. It would have taken him three, but he got a little preoccupied. While crossing the desert, he came across a very strong-willed Vibrava defending a particular cactus from other Vibravas. While the other Vibrava stuck together, this one stayed solo. It reminded him of himself in a way.

He'd watched it closely all morning, gaining more and more interest as the minutes went by. He'd done a quick search on his PokéNav for more information, and when he'd realized the final form of Vibrava was a Flygon, a Pokémon he'd always admired, he knew he had to have it.

The Vibrava didn't pay too much attention to him when he'd first emerged from his hiding place. Only when he called out to it did the Pokémon acknowledge him, with a hiss and a glare, but that was all Drew was granted. The Vibrava then turned his head and continued to ignore him.

This was definitely his type of Pokémon.

"Hey, Vibrava, how bout a battle?" Drew smirked, and flicked his hair.

The Vibrava blinked a few times, then slowly stretched its back out a bit, floated onto the ground and expanded its wings out, taking an offensive stance. It seemed totally uninterested in Drew, so he'd have to make sure this Vibrava knew he was a someone worth taking seriously.

"Roselia, let's go!"

His trusty partner took her stance, glaring down the Vibrava before her.

A perfect match up: a grass type vs. a ground-dragon type. Did he have the type advantage? Definitely. But even if he did't have the upper hand, it didn't matter; he had faith in Roselia. She had proved more times than once that her strength was enough to disregard any type advantage or disadvantage every now and then.

The Vibrava didn't give him any time to make the first move; it whipped up a powerful sandstorm and Drew lost sight of his Roselia. His arms moved to shield his eyes from the flying grains of sand, and he was already impressed by this wild Vibrava's aggression.

He heard his Roselia cry out, and his starter was sent flying out of the sand tornado by what he assumed had been a sand attack.

"You're okay, Roselia, we can win this!" he called down to her.

She nodded, and stood back up, awaiting orders.

"Let's take care of this sandstorm! Use petal dance and once you see Vibrava, follow up with magical leaf!"

Roselia shot out a glorious storm of petals that quickly diffused the raging sandstorm and returning the battlefield to stillness. There hovered the Vibrava out in the open, clearly confused as to how it was possible.

While the Vibrava was distracted, Roselia's combination magical leaf hit its mark. Vibrava took some major damage, but forced itself back up into the air and fired off a desperate dragon breath. Drew raised his eyebrows and smirked. Yeah, he definitely wanted this Pokémon.

"Roselia, counter it with a solar beam!"

She almost instantly charged up the energy she needed, and shot off the beam that dispelled the incoming dragon breath and was a critical hit on Vibrava.

It whined as it crashed down onto the ground again, twitching and trying its hardest to rise again. It just couldn't. Two direct hits from type advantage attacks, one of which was the most powerful grass move around, was too much.

Drew took the chance; he lobbed an empty Pokéball at the exhausted Vibrava, who disappeared inside the sphere with a flash of red light. Drew held his breath as the ball wiggled three times, and exhaled when it stilled. The Vibrava was locked inside, and it was his.

"Great job, Roselia," he remarked as he bent down to pick up the Pokéball.

He was more than pleased his newest catch, but there was a thought in the back of his mind he just couldn't get rid of.

First thing was first; he and Roselia made their way out of the out of the desert. Down the route, he found a small lake to sit by and relax for a little bit. It was time for his Pokémon to eat, and he was hungry, too.

First he withdrew his Masquerain, and set him and his Roselia up with their own bowls of the top notch breeder food he'd bought at an organic market in Slateport City.

Next, Drew released his Vibrava, who seemed startled. It landed on the ground, still a little too weak to fly, he assumed. It looked around frantically before spotting Drew standing before him. It hissed again and took a few shaky steps back.

"Hey, it's alright, you can calm down," Drew said calmly, raising his hands to show the Vibrava that the battle was over and he meant the Pokémon no harm.

Vibrava stopped backing away and looked at Drew intensely. He was waiting for an explanation.

"You're a lot like me, Vibrava," Drew admitted, taking a seat on the ground next to his Roselia and Masquerain. "I used to like being on my own, too. I didn't want anyone telling me what to do or where to go. But then I met Roselia, here."

Roselia smiled at Vibrava, who eyed her skeptically, and then focused back on Drew.

"And we became friends and we made a pretty good team," Drew nodded. "It wasn't long before we eventually found Masquerain here, and he joined us as well. Now we all travel and work together, as friends and as partners. I gave them the same option I'm giving you: to come with us.

"If you want to leave, Vibrava, I won't stop you. You are free to make the choice and go if you wish. I'd understand. But as a person who tried to live on their own for a while, I can tell you, it's not the best thing. And I'm much happier now than I was then. I want to offer you a chance to experience that, too."

Vibrava was still for a few moments, weighing Drew's offer in his mind. He looked over to Roselia and Masquerain, happily munching on their lunch. Vibrava tilted his head, indecisive, and a bit hungry.

Drew saw this; he's always been good at reading Pokémon.

"Here," he held out a handful of food to Vibrava.

Vibrava slowly crawled towards him, taking a few nibbles of the food he was offered. He chewed it slowly while Drew watched, smiling easily the whole time. And Vibrava made his choice.

He moved to sit next to Drew, who was more than happy to see he had just gained a new partner and teammate.

"Thanks for giving me a chance, Vibrava," Drew smirked, patting him on the head.

Drew fixed another bowl of food for his newest Pokémon, who gratefully accepted the meal and his new place on Drew's team.

"Roselia, why don't you tell Vibrava about contests and what it is that we do?" Drew offered, retrieving his own meal from his pack.

He sat and ate quietly then, enjoying watching his Pokémon chat in their own language. Sometimes he wished he could understand what it was they were saying. Vibrava listened intently, asking this occasional question now and then, or so he assumed, to which both she and Masquerain happily responded.

A few minutes later, Vibrava turned and looked at him with the same intensity as before, but in a new light. He wore an expression that said something like, 'let's do this,' and Drew smirked and nodded.

After lunch, he returned his Pokémon and continued on his way. He knew he wouldn't make it to town that day like he'd originally planned, but he figured not all things went according to plan. With that thought in mind, he was sticking with his plan of winning his last ribbons and taking home that ribbon cup.

* * *

Drew hadn't been to Fallarbor Town since he was a child, and it was a lot bigger than he'd initially recalled. It was the one contest he'd skipped in the last year because it was so far out of the way, and he didn't want to cross the desert the year before when he already knew he wouldn't be entering the Grand Festival last time.

Now here he was, leaving the contest hall having signed up for the contest that was to take place in two days. He'd never registered so late, but more of his time of the week was spent training his Masquerain and Vibrava, as well as going over combinations with Roselia. By the time he'd finished practicing each day, most of the day was gone, and the contest hall had closed for the night. That was how focused he was on training. And that was how he decided his Pokémon deserved a break.

That was why his Pokémon were enjoying a day at a local Pokémon spa in town. Roselia had given his a rose as a thank you when he left, and he promised them he'd be back to pick them up at the end of the day, telling them he wanted them to enjoy their time off. He wanted them in top shape for the contest, even though Roselia was the only who who'd be completing.

Walking around the back of the hall to avoid anyone from seeing him, he was heading to the local market to get some berries for Pokéblock when he caught sight of a Beautifly fluttering around, spreading its wings and waiting for orders. That was when he looked down and noticed the color red.

A red shirt, a yellow fanny pack, brown hair, a red bandana…

 _Oh_.

May.

She was alone, isolated from everyone who was practicing in front of the hall. Her back was to him, making her oblivious to the fact that he was watching. And he fully intended to see her practice. Had she gotten better since their last encounter? Had she and her Beautifly mastered their moves? He waited to see.

The first thing she called for was that impressive silver wind, which still stunned him a bit after a few weeks of not seeing it. It was a promising start, and he wondered what her next move would be.

"Combine tackle!" she cried.

...

The world made sense again.

It had been a weird call for sure. Drew could easily name at least 20 combinations that would flow perfectly with silver wind. Tackle was not on the list.

It just got worse from there. She questioned herself and lost her nerve when she saw the combination wasn't working. She then tried gust, and then a string shot, which tangled her Beautifly up in a messy web.

Drew only had two thoughts about the performance: one, it was horrible, and she was just as inexperienced as the first time he'd seen her perform in a contest. She kept second guessing herself in an appeal, and that was probably a similar reflection of her battling skills as well. There wasn't much hope for this girl, just like he'd tried to explain to Solidad weeks before.

Two, at least she'd learned what a combination was. He didn't think that accounted for much, but it was _something_. At least she was _trying_ , emphasis on trying. He couldn't say much about her skills as a trainer or a coordinator, but she had a lot of determination and she sure was stubborn. Once she'd got it through her head that coordinating wasn't meant for her, she could push that focus into something else, and probably be successful in some other avenue of life.

Beautifly was hovering over her trainer, hoping for some assistance to get untangled. That was when Drew approached them, pulling that rose out of his jacket. It was still perfect, just as all of Roselia's roses always had been.

"Nice work," he said evenly, not meeting her in the eye right away. "Botched up combinations, huh? No wonder; you're very indecisive."

"Drew?" she said, her voice a mixture of annoyance and confusion.

That surprised him a little bit. She'd actually remembered who he was? Was that because she cared enough? Maybe it was because he'd been such a dick to her before? Perhaps because she learned to respect him as the superior coordinator? The possibilities were endless.

He didn't know her reasoning. All he knew in that second was, he'd never forgotten her name, either, like he'd thought he was going to.

"Isn't that sweet; you even remember my name after all this time?" Drew smiled to himself. "Hi, May."

He tossed her the rose, relishing in the look of ever-expanding misunderstanding on her face. She caught it and didn't know what to say to him, which gave him nothing to work with. He was drawing a blank until her Beautifly lowered itself, getting a better look at the rose.

"Don't get your hopes up, May," he remarked. "The only reason I even came over here was to see Beautifly again."

"Then now you can go," she spit back.

Well damn, she wasn't playing around this time. She was used to his sarcasm already, and she had learned how to recover and channel her own right back at him. This girl was so unlike any other he'd ever met, and it intrigued him enough to want to keep talking to her. So he'd need a new approach, and he steered the conversation back to what he knew how to talk about best: contests, and how he was excellent in them.

"Anyhow…" he flicked his hair, his almost-ever-present-when-he-was-in-her-presence smirk returning. "I don't supposed you've won any ribbons yet, have you?"

Her face fell, and she pursed her lips. She brought the rose up to her face and turned away from him, as if she were trying to hide. And he understood, almost instantly.

"Didn't think so, after that last display" he commented.

He moved to walk away then, knowing she'd ask him if he gave her more of a reason to…

"So many ribbons do you have, mister perfect?!" she demanded.

He had already been reaching into his jacket to pull out his ribbon case before she'd even asked. It was even more satisfying to hear the envy in her gasp when he flashed his three ribbons. He didn't even need to turn around to just picture the matching look on her face.

"The nice yellow one on the right, won that one just a while ago," he explained. "A coordinator with no ribbons at all really doesn't stand a chance in a competition like this."

It was true, though. Throughout the week he'd been in town, he'd seen some serious coordinators. Even some he figured he might have to worry about. One night, he'd seen some girl and a Medicham practicing an ice punch; a powerful that could take out even his Roselia if it hit the right spot.

May's Beautifly and coordinating skills were just no match. She had to realize that by now, right?

Wrong.

So he walked away again, not looking back.

"Alright, Beautifly, we can do this!" he heard her call when he rounded the building.

Yep, she definitely had determination.

* * *

At precisely 4:30, he'd picked up his Pokémon, just as he'd promised. They all greeted him happily and showed off how great they all looked.

"You're all definitely contest ready," he complimented them.

Once he'd returned them to their Pokéballs, he'd made his way back to the Pokémon Center, intending to get their health checked too. Everything had to be perfect for this contest; especially now that he'd made himself seem like such a threat to May. He had to back that up.

He was standing in line when he'd heard someone call his name.

"Drew!"

It caught him off guard; he didn't know anyone in this town aside from May. So to hear someone call out to him, he didn't know what to expect.

He turned to find a group of three boys walking towards him: one who looked about his age, one older kid who looked to be about Solidad's age, and some small kid, who couldn't be older than seven at most. He vaguely recognized them, but he couldn't put his finger on why. And when he saw that Pikachu perched on the one in the blue hoodie. It gave him an idea.

"Your May's little friend, right?" he tried.

"Yeah, we met before," the kid confirmed. "I shoulda known that we'd see you here."

Drew lost interest quickly now that the mystery was solved.

"I just came to pick up a couple more ribbons so I can enter the Grand Festival," he answered back, halfway turning away hoping to convey that he wasn't interested in them before a thought occurred to him. "Are you all entered in the contest as well?"

How horrifying would that be? May was bad enough as it was. He couldn't even begin to imagine how pathetic her friends could be…or whatever they were to her. He wasn't too concerned about the younger or the older one, but the one who was the same age as him…maybe they were dating or whatever.

Regardless, maybe her friends could pass along the message that Drew was even better than the last time she'd battled him.

"Nah, we're just here to cheer for May and watch her compete, right Pikachu?" the boy clarified.

The Pikechu happily complied.

"I get it; you're afraid, huh?" Drew laced his every word with sarcasm.

Somehow he knew that May's companions would probably be just as short fused as she could be. Sure enough, he was right.

"NO!" the boy bickered back instantly. "I'm not afraid of _anything_! And I'd never back down from you or anyone else!"

"Is that a fact?" Drew laughed. "Why don't you and me have a little battle?"

That definitely stunned the boy from his outburst.

"You wanna battle…with me? A real battle?"

"Just because I'm a Pokémon Coordinator doesn't mean my battling skills aren't top notch."

The promise of a battle ignited something else in the boy before him.

The boy shifted from outraged to lost to fired up in a matter of seconds. He definitely was just like May, and Drew wouldn't be surprised if they were an item. Just another chance for Drew to prove himself better than May in every possible aspect: he'd show this trainer that he was the better battler, even as a coordinator.

* * *

There was a short walk with the group of May's friends Drew had to endure before they found a suitable space for the match. He stayed a few paces ahead of them, not participating in their conversation, because he didn't really feel welcome, nor did he want to.

Drew had learned all their names while walking outside with them to find a proper place for their battle.

"Hey Brock, will you officiate the battle?" the boy in blue asked.

"Of course; you got it, Ash," he responded.

"And Max, you agree with me that Tailow clearly has the advantage here, right?" Ash asked next.

"No doubt; a flying type against a grass type?" Max began. "It's just common sense."

He'd learned a decent amount about them just listening to them speak.

Starting with the oldest, Brock was a somewhat famous face: a notable gym leader from the Kanto region, known for his expertise with rock-type Pokémon. Solidad has mentioned him once or twice; he'd left Kanto to learn more about Pokémon breeding. It was an interesting choice for a successful gym leader to make. From what Drew gathered while listening to them converse on their walk, apparently he was more like a parental figure in the group. He'd asked if Ash's Pokémon had eaten the protein-packed food mix he'd created for them.

The little one, Max, was May's younger brother. He'd joined their journey when they'd left Petalburg City. He drilled Drew's opponent on every battle strategy while they exited the building. He mentioned something about how his father would go into a random battle, meaning he and May's father was clearly an experienced trainer. Drew made a mental note to look into that later.

Finally, there was his opponent, Ash: a trainer and wannabe champion of a Pokémon League. Hoenn was apparently his third go at the title. A boy from Kanto, he'd set out on his journey to complete to Pokédex and become a Pokémon Master. An admirable title for sure, but Drew was about to show him that he still had a long way to go.

"Anyone know where May is?" Max asked on their walk. "I want her to see Ash school this weenie."

 _'This weenie?' Ha. Creative._

Though he had extensive knowledge of Pokémon, the Max kid really was only seven.

"Leave her alone, Max, she's training to beat Drew just like I'm about to do," Ash responded, his Pikachu agreeing. "I want her here, too, but just imagine what awesome attacks she and Beautifly are probably practicing for the contest."

"Gee, Ash; if you love my sister so much, why don't you marry her?" Max teased.

"Gross, Max!" Ash immediately shot back. "No way! Never."

"You're right, Ash," Max laughed. "My sister will never get a boyfriend. She's too weird."

"Alright, you two, how about we focus on the upcoming battle?" Brock chided them. "And Max, you need to be nicer to your sister."

Drew rolled his eyes. Well, now he felt better about the fact that he'd given may two roses, knowing she was unattached.

 _Not the time for those thoughts. Not now, not_ ever.

The battle began quickly, and kept up at a high rate of speed. Drew calling for attacks, Ash countering, which in return prompted Drew to counter right back. It was back and fourth for a few minutes, Tailow managing a few hits on Roselia and Roselia returning the damage.

When Ash called for a peck attack, Drew knew exactly what to do.

"Stun spore, Roselia."

The paralyzing powder spread quickly, and Ash called for Tailow to dodge. But Drew's timing was too good, and Tailow couldn't escape the effect. The spores hit Tailow, and he was, for lack of a better term, stunned.

Drew was aware of a figure approaching from behind him. He could only smirk when he heard May gasp at seeing her friend's Tailow going down.

"Just in time for the best part, May," Drew acknowledged her. "Okay! Finish up with solar beam!"

She did just that. A huge beam of energy shot from Roselia's arms, effectively knocking out the small bird. Type advantage meant nothing for a Pokémon as strong as his Roselia.

He took pride in hearing everyone's collective gasps, especially May's, as Brock declared Drew the winner.

"I can't believe Ash lost…" May mumbled to herself, but he heard her.

"Believe it," Drew announced. "I'll explain why: in _any_ Pokémon contest, you have to be on the same wavelength as your Pokémon if you wanna win. But, that can be the trickiest part about it, cause when a trainer gets confused, so does his Pokémon, but _that's_ the true essence of team work."

Every word he spoke was true, and he looked over to her at the end to make sure she was paying attention. She was, which he was pleased about.

At the heart of it all, that was her problem. Her lack of confidence in herself leaked into her Pokémon. He'd learned early on that the bond between any trainer or coordinator in any battle was the most important element. He had watched her Beautifly a few times now, and had noticed the lack of a connection the two shared.

In May's first contest, she truly shined when she forgot where she was and was able to focus completely on her partner in their performance. It was a different case early that morning, when he was watching her call for different attacks over and over again hoping some combination would work. When she saw them falling apart and let the doubt consume her, her Beautifly felt the same confusion and nervous energy. He had realized that's where she struggled.

If she wanted to embarrass herself in another contest again, clearly he couldn't stop her, or scare or away, but he could at least give her some legitimate advice. In all truth, he didn't hate this girl. He found her interesting, to say the least. And he'd be a terrible person if he tried to steer her into failure again.

And he'd be a liar if he didn't admit that she had some potential. She had all the pieces; she just had to figure out how to put them together. To make a working combination; if she couldn't figure it out, that was on her.

It was her conscious decision to pursue contests and coordinating, and he clearly couldn't convince her that she wasn't meant for it. So he'd at least tried to help her out. By now she should at least know he was a good competitor, and he hoped she could see that knew what he was talking about. It was obvious, after all. Now it was all up to her; whether she took his advice or left it.

He saw a look of concentration on her face as she absorbed the words, and he had no more reason to stay there. So he bid them a short goodbye, and wished Ash's Tailow well.

Ash begrudgingly thanked him for the battle, and he turned away, intending to get his Roselia to the Pokémon Center to get her some extra rest before the contest tomorrow.

* * *

The Fallarbor Contest was so much more popular than he initially realized. The entire stadium was packed; he couldn't pick out one open seat in the entire room.

All the registered coordinators took the stage to greet the crowd and to get the contest started. Vivian welcomed the audience and introduced the first-time coordinators all at once.

Initially, he was surprised when May moved to stand beside him in the beginning. A bold move for sure, and he admired it. But he was taken aback even more when she smiled right back at him, clearly saying that she planned to give it her everything. He hoped it meant he'd see good things come from May today.

They separated in the common room, May going to stand by some girl with pigtails while Drew sat on a bench alone, watching the screen intently to see the other appeals.

The contest today was a little different than the ones he'd entered this season: it was a single move appeal round. Coordinators were only allowed to use one move to show the judges the artistry of their Pokémon. On top of that, of the 50 who competed, only four would advance to the battles. Slim odds for sure; he and Roselia knew the stakes were high. Maybe this would finally give him a bit of a challenge.

When it came his turn, he released his Roselia and together they summoned a brilliant petal dance. It was more sparkly and fragrant than any of the recent ones he'd seen. Once again, the power of his Roselia brought out so much pride in him. She definitely earned the 29.6 she'd been graded.

Other coordinators were going strong today as well. May's friend and her Medicham pulled off a terrifyingly powerful high jump kick resulting in a 29.5, which was dangerously close to him, and just like before, he knew he'd have to watch her.

May opted to use her Beautifly's silver wind, just like he knew she would. But she did much better than last time he watched her on stage. She was calm, cool, confident and collected, and her Beautifly was at the top of its game because of it. May scored a 25.9, which was a massive improvement for her. She deserved to be proud, but Drew wondered if anyone else would surpass her.

While May performed, Drew met up with her friend; the coordinator with the Medicham, Grace.

"Your Medicham is superb," he complimented her.

To his surprise, Grace burst out into hysterical laughter, thanking him and returning the praise to his Roselia excitedly. She was like a version of Solidad, hyped up on all the coffee in the world, but Grace radiated positivity at an alarmingly high level while Solidad was far more reserved. Drew felt awkward around her, and thanked Arceus when May returned to stand between them. They all watched the screen together, Drew and Grace throwing criticisms here and there, while May stayed silent, hoping no one was going to top her score.

One of the final appeals was by someone named Jessica; an unknown yet extremely eccentric entity for sure. She wore the most ridiculous poofy dress and descended onto to the stage from the ceiling. It was way too dramatic for a Hoenn contest, if it was even allowed; this crazy lady definitely needed to be in Sinnoh for super contests.

Still, Drew didn't rule her out, and rightfully so; she stunned the whole arena with her Dustox. How she'd trained it to achieve rainbow colors in its poison stings, Drew couldn't fathom. The whole audience and the judges were all equally as confused. No one called her out on using more than one move in her appeal. Everyone was trying to decipher how she pulled off the colors, and Drew couldn't help but feel something was off with the whole thing.

"Is that even allowed?" May asked quietly, clearly confused.

Jessica finished her performance by letting her Dustox lift her on a rainbow whirlwind. It was undeniably beautiful, but the focus on the move was divided between the lady floating somehow, and the actual attack itself.

May's loss for understanding persisted while Grace's positivity quickly vanished.

"I'm not sure how I feel about a Pokémon being upstaged by its coordinator…" Grace said, somewhat bitterly.

"You ask me, she's got no class at all," Drew agreed, turning away so he wouldn't have to watch anymore.

Despite Drew and Grace's criticisms, the judges seemed more than pleased with it all. Jessica scored a just above Drew at 29.7.

She was the highest score of the day, and guaranteed in the battle rounds for sure. Drew just hoped he'd match up with her so he could she her just what coordinating was really about.

Vivain called for the show to move on finally. There were only three coordinators remaining, and so far, Drew had noted May had stayed in the top four. It was all going to come down to the last few opponents.

He noticed her start shaking then, as she realized it came down to these final scores. Grace also sensed her anxiety and offered to go get May's friends for a little support, to which she nodded and thanked her. Drew didn't know what he could say to May to calm her down; this was exactly the type of thing he'd warned her about the day prior.

So when Grace walked out of the room, he also moved away. She didn't move to stop him, so he assumed it was fine. Most of their encounters hadn't been exactly friendly or pleasant, so he knew she didn't care if he was there with her. She probably preferred the space between them, anyway.

Fine by him; he and his Roselia had some battle strategies to go over.

Her friends arrived by her side moments later, just as the last appeal was finishing up.

When Ash asked, she confirmed only four of the people in the room would move on. Her brother did the math and concluded that she had the spot locked up if this one last person didn't do better than her.

Drew's eyes were drawn to the screen as they all awaited the final result.

"25.8!"

She did it. May exhaled fiercely and celebrated with her friends as her, his, Grace and the Jessica girl's pictures lit up the screen, confirming that they were the finalists.

This was going to get interesting…

* * *

Pure disappointment flooded through him when Drew realized neither he nor Grace would face that arrogant Jessica coordinator, and he didn't think May was totally capable of teaching her a lesson in battle.

Still, when she'd advanced on, her confidence came flooding back, so who knew? Maybe she could pull something off, like she'd pulled off making it into the battle rounds at all.

He couldn't dwell on it, though; he had a match with Grace coming up, and he had to be ready for it. She and her Medicham were meditating on the opposite side of the room, prepping themselves for their match against him, probably. She didn't seem worried about May battling this Jessica woman, she Drew decided he wouldn't either. He knew Grace wouldn't be easy, and he was worried about his Roselia going up against that ice punch.

Still, when Vivain announced the start of the battle, he found himself glancing at the screen out of the corner of his eye. A Dustox against a Beautifly promised to be a good match.

The battle had barely started, and May was already losing points. He thought that was it for her; she'd start to panic and lose the momentum she needed to carry her through to a win.

But she didn't; she kept a level head and she called for dodges and counter strikes so that her Beautifly could excell, just like he'd told her to. A few of Dustox's attacks, May was able to send right back at it. She'd definitely improved since their first battle.

Drew watched, amazed, as May had managed to knock off half of her opponent's points. She was finally getting a handle on herself. He almost applauded when she finished off Jessica's points with a perfectly timed spinning tackle.

May was cheering on the stage, her and her Beautifly were going on to the final match; the best she'd done in any contest.

That was when everything blew up.

Jessica wasn't accepting the loss well at all, and she shot back up screaming at May, who seemed as shocked as everyone in the audience was. Even Grace and Medicham's concentration was broken as they opened their eyes to watch the scene.

Some sort of device fell off of the Dustox, leaking rainbow-tinted sparkles. It had been no doubt damaged in the battle thanks to some of the bigger hits May managed to pull off. So that was where the color came from; Drew knew it hadn't been natural. And soon, everyone in the arena caught on. Mr. Contesta didn't hesitate to disqualify her, and suddenly the stage was filled with smoke.

Grace shot up from her seat, and Drew did that same.

"What is going on out there?!" Grace demanded.

Once the smoke cleared, two people and a Meowth stood in the center. Drew swore he'd seen them before; weren't they the ones who tried to steal those bluk berries way back in Slateport City? He was almost certain it was the same people.

And just like last time, they were easy enough to get rid of. One incredible thunderbolt from Ash's Pikachu had them ejected from the building, and the contest carried on.

"Well, that's a relief," Grace exhaled, falling back down onto the bench.

"Yeah," Drew breathed, still standing. "Definitely."

His fists stayed balled until he saw May, standing perfectly safe/fine and looking a bit embarrassed on the screen, standing next to Vivian who was ushering the contest forward.

* * *

He knew he was going to lose this battle from the second Medicham sent that first petal dance right back at Roselia.

Going against an opponent who could send any and every attack right back at him was tough, and he realized that unless he landed a big hit, he was guaranteed to fall short of his fourth contest ribbon.

Magical leaf and petal dance were useless. Stun spore wouldn't take off the amount of points he needed it to. His only hope was that solar beam would be too powerful to deflect with confusion. So he took the gamble, something he never did.

With no real sunlight, Roselia would take even longer to charge up her ultimate attack and it was guaranteed to be weaker, but he didn't have a choice. When Grace ordered her Medicham to use ice punch, it startled him. When the ice punches were thrown at the ground, he didn't understand. Whatever Grace was planning, he could only hope his Roselia could fire it off before it was done.

The beam was released, and it was soaring towards Medicham. Drew dared to hope that it might work out.

But it wasn't enough.

Huge pillars of ice shot up out of the ground, and Drew watched in horror as his final attempt was rebounded time and time again before finally it came back and collided with his Roselia, sending her flying backwards.

Grace didn't spare him a second to recover. Roselia was trying her hardest to stand back up, but she could barely move. Medicham, meanwhile, was coming at her fast with a high jump kick.

Next thing Drew knew, he was recalling his fainted Pokémon and thanking her from outside her Pokéball for fighting so hard for him. But that was it; he wasn't going to win his fourth ribbon here, and he contemplated leaving all together.

However, if he left, he couldn't see how May handled herself in the final round, and there was no doubt that watching his loss probably terrified her into a mess of nervous vibes and fear. Well, truthfully he could look it the whole contest and highlight clips online afterwards, sure…but it was always better seeing it in person.

So he made his way to the locker room, passing May as she made her way out to the stage. Just like he predicted, she was practically vibrating with nervousness.

Their eyes met just before they passed, and she looked up to him with so much uncertainty in her eyes.

"Trust your Pokémon, May," was all he said before he shuffled past her, her name being announced by Vivian as the crowd cheered on her entrance.

* * *

"You doing alright, Roselia?"

She nodded, her eyes downcast.

Drew released her the second he got back into the privacy of the locker room. He wanted to make sure she was okay, and that she knew he was proud of her.

"Don't feel bad, Roselia," he encouraged her. "You were as great as ever; I'm the one who messed up today. Besides, we've got plenty of time to get those last two ribbons, and I know we'll do it."

That seemed to perk her up a bit, and she began eating the Pokéblock he'd laid out for her.

Once he was satisfied that his Pokémon was taken care of, he turned his attention to the battle on the screen; both Pokémon had just been called onto the stage and the clock had begun.

May took the first move, calling for a tackle, just like she won her first battle with. It was an easy dodge for Medicham, and Grace timed her meditate command perfectly.

If May was truly nervous when she'd first took the stage for this battle, it didn't show at all. She didn't flinch when Grace called out for an ice punch; she calmly fought back with a gust, pushing Medicham back successfully.

Drew face-palmed when May called for a string shot – had she not watched his battle, literally minutes before this one? Medicham had sent almost every one of Drew's attacks back at him. May should have known that string shot was doomed to fail. He waited to see the panic in her eyes.

It flashed briefly, and it only got worse. A successful ice punch from Medicham encased Beautifly in solid ice.

May had lost half of her points, but she didn't seem to notice. She was shouting encouragements to her Beautifly, trying to get it to shatter the ice. Drew watched intently, wondering if it would work.

Sure enough, it did, and the battle was back on.

Drew watched as May continued to gradually improve, move by move. An expertly timed dodge and silver wind command suddenly put the battle in her favor. Drew winced when Medicham slammed onto the floor, knee first. Clearly a critical hit and Medicham took some serious damage. May gained a huge advantage, and he was all too curious to see if she could figure out the best ways to use it.

Just when he thought she couldn't surprise him anymore, May pulled off her first attack combination he'd seen her try. Unfortunately, it was stopped. If she could figure out a way to hit Grace with some form of combination like that, she could actually win.

May could actually win.

He couldn't believe it when he watched her call for a silver wind, which turned into a tornado and threw Medicham's concentration off. With confusion no longer holding it back, Beautifly was able to compete it's string shot/tackle combination, and it dealt some serious damage.

Medicham fell out of the spiral, completely trapped by a woven web. It seemed like this could be it, but Medicham broke out of the bind almost instantly. Still, May was relentless; she was on a roll and she refused to stop. She used silver wind in a way even he never would have thought of: Beautifly trapped Medicham's hands within two separate spirals of silver tornados, effectively stopping confusion and giving her a clear path for a final and fatal tackle attack to hit its mark.

Grace's point's plummeted, while May maintained almost all of hers. Medicham was still standing, but now Grace was in the same position Drew had been in in their previous battle: she had to make one final, last ditch effort.

"High jump kick!"

"Best defense is a good offense! Beautifly, use tackle!"

A blinding light signaled the massive head-on collision, and both Beautifly and Medicham were sent flying backwards. Everyone held his or her breath, Drew included.

When May's picture lit up the video board, everyone took a moment to absorb the shock.

She did it. May had won a contest.

May won.

 _Well, damn. Miracles do happen_.

Yet it was anything but a miracle; she went through the entire contest like a professional coordinator did. That doe-eyed girl in the red bandana he'd met at that contest months ago, who had actually tripped before she even could get her Pokémon out her first time on a stage, was gone. As much as he couldn't believe it, it was true.

She still had a lot work to do, clearly. She was still in the beginning stages of her coordinating career, and she'd still face obstacles and challenges for sure. But at least she'd gotten that first ribbon.

That first ribbon was hers…

Drew found himself smirking up at the screen as the camera focused on her face. She was still frozen in place, still processing the fact that it was over and she came out on top. The crowd was roaring and she was completely unaware. It was like she was trapped inside her own little bubble.

Then slowly, reality set in. It finally hit her when her Beautifly hovered beside to her. Next thing, May was snatching her out of the air and hugging her, smiling stupidly big and speaking to her Pokémon. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but he was sure it was nothing but praise.

He stayed in the locker room for the ribbon ceremony, partially because he was too surprised to move, and partially because he wasn't ready to leave just yet. There were too many things he was thinking about.

He couldn't pick out a single thing he would want to say to her. No one, not even herself, doubted her more in the beginning than he did, and she had proved him wrong. In truth, he expected her to maybe win one contest so far down the road, but he stressed the 'so far down the road' part of that thought.

Drew had assumed, because of her first ever performance, it defined her as a performer. And though her unwavering determination had hinted that she'd planned to enter more contests, he assumed she'd need to go through at least five before she even got close to a final round battle, let alone actually win one. Yet here she was; her second contest ever, and she was taking home the grand prize.

He had been wrong.

She had proved him wrong.

"Roselia," he finally looked away from the TV after she'd been handed her ribbon. "I need another rose."

* * *

He waited for her.

As the contest hall slowly emptied out, she and her friends stayed, waiting for her to get off of cloud nine. It took a pretty long time, but he couldn't blame her. It was a hard-fought battle, and a well-earned win. It was definitely going to take some time for her to truly believe it. Hell, it was taking him a long time, too.

She never went back to the locker room after everything was over where he had been waiting. She went to join her friends up in the stands, and they were all content to just stay there with her and give her all the time she needed. A few stragglers went up to her, offered their congratulations and a few words to her, all of which she was quick to give them her thanks. She was unfamiliar to the concept of having fans, and it showed from the nervous blush on her face.

The same blush that had appeared when he'd given her the first rose, and when he'd called her out on not having ribbons before this day had ended.

Eventually, they were the only ones left in the building, save for the janitors sweeping the confetti off of the main stage. It was at least a few hours before she finally agreed that she was ready to go. They all stood slowly, and made their way towards the main lobby. Drew took that as his queue to leave, too.

The sun was setting, a golden hue in the light outdoors.

He'd beat them all outside in the race to get outside, and stood near the front door waiting for them to emerge.

None of them noticed him standing there. They all followed her out, when she stopped and opened her ribbon case just to check and make sure it was still in there. As if she believed it would have vanished if she didn't check it to be certain.

"Well, you did it, May," he greeted from behind.

She turned to face him, and he made sure she could see the rose. It was clear he was going to give it to her, but not without a price, of course.

The price of truth.

"Of course if it had been me you'd been competing against in the first round, things might have ended up a whole lot different," he threw in the comment before tossing the delicate flower to her.

For a brief moment, she seemed to be debating on how to take his words when the rose landed perfectly on top of her ribbon case. He didn't know if she had plans to enter the Grand Festival at the end of the year, but the fact that she had the ribbon case was a pretty good indication.

Finally, she reacted. She took that rose between her fingers, inspected it for a moment, and looked back up to him confidently. She was no longer afraid of whatever he could possibly say to her. She was no longer afraid to compete.

In that moment, they both realized that she'd left a mark on him, and she was going to leave a mark on the contest circuit. Whether it would be a good or bad mark, only time would tell. And he found he was no longer reserved to call her a coordinator, because if she continued on that path she had shown herself to be on today, she could become great. Maybe she could even reach his level some day.

What a scary and exciting thought: the prospect of competing against someone, constantly trying to outdo them and working endlessly to surpass him. It could give him some serious inspiration to keep getting better. The contest today had been a wake up call; he couldn't afford to become careless or overconfident, and he was starting to think that maybe having a constant source of pressure like that would benefit him, greatly.

There was a word for what was describing; a specific term for the thing he was thinking of. But he couldn't think of it, because the moment was getting too intense.

"I supposed this rose is for Beautifly, right?" she laughed, and didn't turn away from him.

She kept looking at him, as determined and unafraid as she had been all day. He smiled back at her, flicked his hair and turned.

"Yeah, something like _that_."

He walked away from them – from her – then, on the path back to his hotel. He had two more days to stay in Fallarbor Town – as per his hotel reservations – before he was set to pack up and head to Purika Town for the contest coming up in three weeks. Behind him, he could hear May telling her friends how she was excited for her next contest, and he idly wondered where they would go.

He found himself thinking about her the whole seven-block-walk back to his temporary residence; the girl he swore to himself he would forget just weeks ago.

It seemed so possible back then.

Now, he wasn't so sure, because things didn't always go according to plan.


	4. Chamomile Tea

**Chapter Three: Chamomile Tea–** In which Drew and Solidad continue the tradition, and Drew admits maybe he was wrong.

 **Author's notes:**  
\- Expect coffee and/or drink titled chapters to be these conversation pieces. Bear with me, it's all in the name of character growth.  
\- I'm beta-ing and writing this story myself, and I'm sorry for any mistakes. The system I'm running right now is post the chapter because I know some of you want to read it, then I go back and reread myself it a day or so later, and try to correct anything I find.  
\- Thanks for reading. Please leave some feedback in the reviews so I know how you guys think I'm doing.  
\- One last thing: I'm about to go into finals at my university, so updates will probably slow down for a little bit. Hope you all do well in your finals, too.  
\- Chamomile Tea- a tea infused with several daisy-like plants that are commonly used to make herb infusions to serve various medicinal purposes.

* * *

It was freezing in the hotel room, which was why he was thankful to have a hot drink that he casually sipped now and then, letting the warmth seep into his bones.

On top of that, he was also happy to be able to talk to Solidad from the comfort of his own space, and not in the lobby of the hotel. His Pokémon were spending the night at the Pokémon Center just to get some extra checkups; he was particularly focused on making sure his Roselia was okay after the contest had ended earlier that day. But the point was that his Pokémon weren't all asleep in his room like they usually were, so he could talk freely and openly without disturbing them. This provided him a rare opportunity; he could have privacy in a conversation with Solidad, which was an added bonus.

And after his last contest and all of the conflicting thoughts he'd faced, he definitely needed the wisdom he felt that only she could give.

Their conversation started out in the usual format: Solidad would get things started until he'd eased into the conversation and began to talk on his own. But this time, they had a lot more catching up to do. They hadn't gotten the chance to speak in just over two weeks, with Drew's prior training and Solidad's trips through Sinnoh in her final weeks before she returned to Kanto. They were utterly clueless as to what had gone on in each other's lives over the previous 14 days.

Solidad was going on about some young kid she'd met after arriving home in Pewder City who wanted to be a coordinator and was asking her to help him. She had gotten back just days ago from her travels in Sinnoh, after winning her fifth ribbon, as she promised she would. She left the region with just under two months until their Grand Festival was held.

Naturally, the media made a frenzy about it: " _well-known Kanto-based coordinator Solidad ducks out just weeks before Sinnoh Festival!"_ he read in an issue of _Coordinator's Weekly_. It was just one of many similar headlines and feature stories from various contest circuit magazines he'd seen. He'd stopped counting after he saw her face on a fifth cover. He never liked reading those magazines, anyway.

Solidad wasn't a Top Coordinator, but she was very well known, breezing through contest seasons with natural power and elegance, and making it all the way into the top four in her first Grand Festival. She was a nobody in the beginning of her first season, and by the end of it, her name could be heard in the nervous and envious whispers of almost any locker room at a contest hall.

"He wants catch and use Snorlax in appeals," Solidad remarked. "Said he thinks that display of power could easily win him a high score. It was cute, he's so eager and he wanted to try so hard. I told him a Munchlax would be better, though. I had to explain to him that a pair of strength and the ability to move around and use the whole stage would be better."

Drew nodded absentmindedly.

He was only half paying attention, trying to scribble down some ideas for his Pokémon to use in their next contest. Everything he came up with was deemed either not good enough or not sensible, as in, there's no way it could work. He'd been out of his head since the end of the contest earlier that day.

It wasn't a matter of nerves or anything silly like that, because Drew Hayden didn't get nervous. He still had plenty of time to get his final two ribbons, so he wasn't worried about that. He was worried about…other things.

He couldn't stop thinking about how he wanted to get his Masquerain contest ready. The more he practiced with him, the more he discovered and became familiar with his Masquerain's move set, and his Masquerain definitely had some great moves. He'd figured out very quickly that the butterfly Pokémon was totally appropriate for contests, just as he knew he would be. Drew just wasn't sure they'd hit that level of togetherness he'd felt safe with, though, and felt it was better to keep practicing until they got it. Actually performing with Masquerain would have to wait, but he could map out some possibilities for the time being.

On top of that, he had a Vibrava to worry about, too. They were getting along just fine with Vibrava ever-eager to prove himself a strong force of a Pokémon and valuable asset to Drew's team. But there were some things he had his reserves about. One, Vibrava seemed to want to totally outdo his own teammates, and only wanted to work with Drew alone. The tough Pokémon didn't harass Roselia or Masquerain in training, but he wasn't eager to comply when Drew would ask him to try a combination with the others. He just hoped it would mellow out a bit over time, or when he finally evolved. Some Pokémon did change when they grew up.

The other concern Drew faced was that he didn't feel Vibrava would help him in contest appeals much, if at all. In truth, he'd been so obsessed with the possibility of adding a Flygon to his team, but that would be for battling only. Drew had never even tried to think of ways to perform an appeal with Vibrava, and he wasn't totally familiar with ways to show off sandstorms and steel wings in a visually appealing combination. He'd always gone for flashy, dazzling showcase appeals; never displays of strength, though he knew it worked for some coordinators he'd seen. That just wasn't his style; he showcased his strength in battles and battles alone.

His growing team had great Pokémon for sure, but all he could really do was keep spamming petal dances and magical leaf attacks with his Roselia in contests until he felt more comfortable with them all. And although that had always worked for him, he was craving to do something different, especially after seeing the variety he'd faced in the contest he'd lost just hours ago.

A Dustox using poison sting and whirlwind, although it was partially fake…but still, it was different. A Medicham using a devastating high jump kick to allude the promise of tough battles should it advance to the second round, and confusion on itself to help it meditate in order to dodge attacks, _and_ using multiple ice punches to deflect a solar beam; he and Roselia's strongest move. Then there was the matter of that Beautifly's silver wind…

He had come to see that his Masquerain already knew how to use silver wind, and it had excited him beyond measure when they'd first started practicing with it.

Areceus, the breathtaking combinations he would pull when his Masquerain and he were 100% ready to compete together…

It had all been exciting. His last three contest wins had been all too easy, and there was no fun if there wasn't a challenge. But that day, in the Fallarbor Contest…it _was_ different. It wasn't an easy win like he'd predicted it would be; it _was_ a real challenge. It gave him a rush and reminded him why he loved coordinating. Most of all, it gave him a renewed passion to want to have that kind of diversity in his own moves and appeals. He really wanted to use that silver wind and–

"You know, Drew, I enjoy our chats," Solidad deadpanned. "Really, I do, and I'm always happy to talk to you, but usually conversations are a two-way street, meaning when one person is talking, the other person is listening and actively participating with better responses than just a nod every two minutes."

Drew blinked a few times, focusing back on his pink-haired friend slowly. He'd been so lost in his head he realized he hadn't really heard much of what she said. But when she wasn't talking about contests she'd been in, as she hadn't been in any new ones since the last time they'd talked, he faded out a bit. It wasn't that he didn't care, of course. Solidad was always a good friend to him and he loved her like the sibling he never had; he was always content with learning what was up with her life and her adventures. It was just…the adrenaline from his newest loss was keeping his brain focused on contests and coordinating, and not much else.

"Huh? I'm sorry, Solidad; what did you say?"

"You seem a little off tonight," Solidad commented, her piercing eyes watching him through the screen. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just thinking about the last contest," he admitted.

"Oh, we haven't even gotten to talk about that, yet!" Solidad chirped. "Roselia looked beautiful as always."

"I'll be sure to pass your compliment to her," Drew nodded.

"You do that," Solidad laughed.

She was sipping her hot chocolate – something about still readjusting to the time change of Kanto and Sinnoh, so she was avoiding caffeine – slowly before setting her mug down, which prompted Drew to take a sip of his own drink. His nose crinkled a bit, but not in a bad way; in a this-is-unfamiliar way. It was definitely an acquired taste, but after the first few sips, he could see himself _probably_ drinking this again in the future, even though he preferred coffee, always.

"That Medicham was so awesome," she continued when Drew stayed silent. "Hey, listen; if it's your loss that's got you down, you shouldn't think about it like that. It was a great battle and that's what matters."

"No, I know," Drew sighed. "I'm not upset or anything. I'm just thinking."

"About?" she pressed.

"Just how the last few contests have gone," he said, taking another small sip.

"Before this one, you've won the last few contests you've been in," she pointed out.

"Of course, but those were all such easy wins," Drew clarified. "None of them were a challenge, and Roselia has handled herself so well, but…"

"But?" she prodded him when he paused.

"I've been thinking about my team as a whole," Drew bit his lip. "Yesterday, I was up against some real competition for the first time since I faced Robert back in Slateport, and I gotta say, as much as I hate to admit it, because my Roselia is pretty perfect, I think I need more variation on my team. She can't carry me through the whole season, and I'm still not quite there yet with Masquerain."

"What about your Vibrava?" she asked.

"I don't really plan on using him in anything until he evolved," Drew said, a pensive look on his face. "But I want to expand a bit more; try to maybe go beyond flashy moves, but also try to find some new flashy moves at the same time. You know what I mean?"

"Of course," Soliad nodded. "You're realizing that although Roselia is a superb Pokémon–"

Drew opened his mouth to probably throw a sarcastic comment about how she was _the most superb_ , but she rolled his eyes and he shut his mouth quickly, listening.

"Roselia's so great, but relying on her so much has given you a limited move set to work with," Solidad continued. "And today, you realized that the point of contests is to vary your appeals and strategies. Every good coordinator needs to change it up every now and then. The more styles and types of Pokémon you adapt to, the more well rounded you'll be. And that can prepare you for tougher opponents."

"Right," Drew looked at her for a moment. "Because there are _tougher opponents_."

Solidad smiled and he smiled back. In truth, they hadn't battled each other since that first contest Drew had ever entered, but he knew it was only a matter of time before they'd meet up in a match again somewhere, probably a Grand Festival someday. And he wanted to be ready, because he vowed that day, with tears stinging in his eyes, that even though he and this girl became fast friends, he would beat her someday. He wasn't always striving for that specific goal constantly, because his ultimate goal was to become a Top Coordinator. But a win against Solidad had been added to the list of things he wanted to accomplish nonetheless. However long it took him to do that, he didn't care. He wanted the title for himself more than anything else.

"Exactly," she nodded. "Have you thought about adding any other new Pokémon to your team?"

"Not at the moment," he told her. "I really want to get comfortable with Masquerain and Vibrava to evolve. On top of that, I have to make sure Roselia's still in top shape, too. I feel like adding more Pokémon now would only further divide my attention and make each goal I have for them all individually take longer to accomplish."

She nodded, looking thoughtful. Drew took the opportunity of the lull in the conversation, stretched for a moment. He grabbed his mug and took another small sip, pursing his lips together around the foreign liquid that was becoming more and more familiar. He was halfway through the cup.

"It sounds like you're on a good track, and I can't wait to see what you come up with," she said. "You'll be back to winning by the next contest, I'm sure."

"Thanks, Sol," he said, relaxing a little.

Her reassurance brought him more confidence. He had known he was on the right track, but hearing her confirm it as well gave him more hope, and he found himself eager to get back to travelling and training in the morning. She nodded again, and the two fell back into silence. Drew wondered how much longer she could stay up and talk to him. For him, it was approaching midnight and he'd had a long day, with plans to leave early the next morning. But her body clock was still on Sinnoh time; to her, it was like 6 p.m., even though Hoenn and Kanto were only two hours apart.

Suddenly a huge grin spread across her face, like she'd just remembered something really funny. He quirked an eyebrow at her and waited to explain.

"Speaking of winners…" she started.

What? What was she saying? Where was she going with…

 _Oh_.

The realization of where she intended to steer the conversation hit him harder than a Blaziken using brick break.

The world made sense yet again, and he didn't really want to have _that_ conversation.

A slightly-forced yawn escaped his lips.

"Wow, almost midnight already?" he acted surprised, and far more tired that he really was. "I really should get going soon; I still have to shower and pack my bag for when I leave tomorrow morning, and–"

"Oh no," Solidad admonished him. "You're not allowed to go to bed until we talk about it."

Drew groaned, and grabbed for his mug.

"I don't get why you care so much," he muttered into his tea, which was now lukewarm, and not as good, he found, with the temperature decrease.

"I care because you care," she reminded him, which nearly forced him to choke on his drink.

"Believe what you want," Drew sighed.

"Well regardless of how touchy you get about it, I wanna talk about _her_ ," Solidad remarked. "I watched the whole contest live on TV, of course, and rewatched a few parts online, but you're the only person I know who was there in person and I wanna know all the firsthand details!"

"Can we do this some other time?" Drew felt like he was begging, and maybe he was; he couldn't tell. "I really should be getting to bed…"

"It won't take long," Solidad waved her hand, dismissing him. "Just state a few facts, maybe answer a few questions. Easy stuff."

"Alright, fine," Drew gave in. "Just a few, and don't make it weird. If you make it weird, I'll hang up."

Solidad smirked and rolled her eyes at him.

"I recognized her the instant she went up for her appeal," Solidad said. "I was surprised you didn't text me and tell me that you saw her."

"I wouldn't call that important information, Solidad," Drew rebutted. "She entered another contest, big deal."

"But it is a big deal!" Solidad interjected. "Drew, don't pretend you can't admit how much she improved between Slateport and Fallarbor. This girl fell before she could even release her Beautifly for an appeal, and in a few short weeks, she pulled out a win after an incredible battle."

"So she won; it just means she got lucky this time."

"Need I remind you that she beat the girl who beat you?" Solidad gave him a pointed look.

He just shifted and didn't say anything back.

"Well I'll tell you what I think," Solidad started. "I think you should watch out for her, because with the way she handled her appeal, prop-free, and her battle, she might just turn out to be just as good as we are."

"She didn't even know what a combination was until the day before the contest, Solidad," he stressed. "I watched her practice for a bit, and it was just as awful as her first contest. Her poor Beautifly ended up tied up by its own string shot when May tried to combine it with gust. So again, I attribute her win to luck."

"You've told me more than a few times you don't believe in luck, Drew," she challenged.

"I, er…it can happen _sometimes_ ," he responded lamely. "This just happened to be one of those sometimes…"

"We could not have been watching the same battle, then, because what I saw was an excellent performance, and I don't get why you're having such a hard time admitting that she was good. Unless you're jealous you didn't get the win, which I doubt very much."

"You'd be right to do so."

"Then there shouldn't be a problem."

"There isn't one?"

He pulled his mug up to his face again, taking a long sip of the remaining liquid and swishing it around in his mouth to give him and excuse not to speak. Drew knew in those moments he could never, ever, under no circumstances tell Solidad about the fact he'd given May roses, because they were for Beautifly, but Solidad wouldn't believe that.

Solidad paused, thinking out her next words slowly. She loved Drew like a little brother, but she'd also be the first to admit he was one of the most dense and stubborn people she'd ever encountered. And that was fine, because she'd always been a calm person who could deal with it and knew how to break him down if she thought hard enough about it.

So she decided trying to change her tactics a little bit.

"There was a time when we didn't know what a combination was," she spoke more softly than usual. "There was a time when I had never heard of contests and you didn't know how an appeal worked. Or way back in the beginning when I didn't know how to score big points. Once you didn't know how to take proper care of your Pokémon to show them off in the best possible way."

He wore a confused look on his face.

"What's your point, Solidad?" he asked quietly.

"My point is that we were all new at one point," she answered. "Some people take a little longer to get into the swing of things than others, but everyone starts out at that stage when they're unsure of what they're doing and trying to learn all the tricks to make it big. You might have been a natural at coordinating when you first got into it, but even you took a year of really getting the hang of it.

"There are always learning curves, of course. You lost your first contest too, just like I lost mine, and other Top Coordinators lost at theirs. Some of them did even worse than May did at her first contest, but they got better. They worked at it and they eventually fell into their own rhythm, found their own style and rolled with it. That's where May is, and I don't think it's very fair of you to be constantly judging her for what you saw the first time she tried this whole thing out, when she very clearly turned around, took lessons from that first loss and made terrific strides of improvement…just like you did and continue to do.

"I just find it hard to believe that you write her off so much as a nobody with no chance, when even you've already learned so much from her."

"What have I learned from her?" his mouth hung open. "Not to fall on the floor? Not to combine gust and string shot?"

"Stop using mistakes she made as an excuse to deny how you really feel about her performance. So she made some mistakes, haven't we all? Maybe not the same mistakes, but I've made poor decisions in battles, and I've paid for it."

 _My mug is almost empty._

"You've tried combinations that didn't work, and you've morphed them into things that did work."

 _Since when have I been this close to finishing this drink?_

"May learned what combinations were, and she used them effectively in her battle; don't even lie and say that string shot and tackle attack didn't work wonders in trapping that Medicham to give May a little extra time to think."

 _There's barely anything left in here._

"It's all a part of growing. And clearly she's impressed you in some ways, because you went out and caught a whole new Pokémon just so you could match one of the moves she uses."

 _What is this, like three sips?_

"If you even thought for a second I didn't make that connection when you'd told me about catching that Masquerain specifically for a silver wind...you're not as smart as I think you are."

 _Should I just chug the rest of this and be done with it?_

"It's okay to be human, Drew. It's okay to accept that maybe you were wrong about this girl, and maybe she has a future ahead of her."

 _I should really chug this._

"Earlier you told me you wanted to try to change things up a bit, and do you know what that requires? It means you have to step out of your comfort zone and accept new challenges head on, no matter how unfamiliar they are to you."

"And what is it that I'm missing here?" Drew wondered aloud. "What is it that you think I'm not accepting?"

Solidad had watched him while she was speaking. His gaze was so painfully focused on that mug the entire time. Like he was trying to find anything to distract himself from what she was saying. Drew didn't like to admit he was wrong ever, but she knew that she needed him to understand this time around. It would only benefit him in the end.

"I think you're not admitting to yourself that you've found a _rival_ ," she beamed at him, like he'd made some huge stride in his life and like she was proud of him for it.

"A rival is someone who is your equal," he pointed out somberly, still staring at the mug in his hands.

"Not necessarily," she countered. "A rival is someone who inspires you to want to do better. A rival is someone who keeps surprising you. A rival pushes you to always try to remain one step ahead of them. A rival is someone who you give advice to from time to time as well, helping them because you realize they're helping you, too. This girl has done all of those things for already, and I wouldn't be surprised if you've done the same for her."

His brows furrowed in a concentrated look and his lips were pursed as he thought about it.

" _A rival is someone who inspired you to want to do better_." True; he'd caught a Masquerain with the full intention of creating a better and brighter silver wind than her Beautifly had produced.

" _A rival is someone who keeps surprising you_." True; she'd come out of nowhere with her win earlier that day. She'd been a complete opposite of the coordinator she'd displayed herself as in Slateport City. She'd shown him that with concentration, she could be a fierce and calculated battler.

" _A rival pushes you to always try to remain one step ahead of them_." True; he'd shown off his ribbons to her. He had deliberately wanted her to ask him how many he had, just so he could absorb the reaction of her shock and revel in it.

" _A rival is someone who you give advice to from time to time as well, helping them because you realize they're helping you, too."_ True; he'd explained to her the power of having a strong bond with your Pokémon after his battle with Ash. He'd deliberately made sure she was listening, because although he was speaking to everyone there with him, he specifically wanted her to hear it.

" _This girl has done all of those things for already, and I wouldn't be surprised if you've done the same for her."_ True; he recalled the words she spoke to him, just outside of the Slateport contest. ' _Next time, I won't be the loser_ ,' she'd said to him. At the time, it seemed like an idle threat, but now he realized it was all too real; _she was all too real_. And he responded by reminding her that he'd be stronger, too, because he realized that a part of him had wanted to battle her again, and now that desire was stronger seeing how she'd handled herself that day against Grace, who had very easily beaten him in their match.

It all made sense; as much as he hated to admit it, everything Solidad had said made sense to him. It explained why he found it so amusing to rile her up; to see that fire in her eyes that he wanted to extinguish. He craved challenge in contests and was struggling to find it before she walked into the picture. Had he lost to her? Not directly, but he found himself not wanting to lose to her _ever_ , in any branch of a contest. Not in the battle rounds, and not even in appeal scoring.

He was slowly starting to see that May might be the curveball he was waiting for; the inspiration that he needed to keep pushing himself to try new things.

Was this girl with the red bandana really his new rival?

...

 _I should really finish this drink_.

He never took his eyes off of that mug. Drew stared at the little cup in his hands so hard, that he might have burned a hole in it with how intense his concentration was. Solidad had been watching him for over four minutes, while he sat in stillness and she could see a war of thoughts raged in his head. She didn't know what he was thinking exactly, but she could tell from the occasional tiniest twitch in his right eye that he was slowly coming to terms with everything she'd said to him. She didn't dare speak again unless he spoke to her first, or moved around, or acknowledged that maybe the screen and/or the video feed were stalling. It was slightly amusing; she'd never seen Drew Hayden at a lose for words.

Finally, around the six-minute mark, he blinked a few times, and snapped into action. He downed the final contents of his mug. His formerly-hot drink was now a terrible room-temperature cold, and his face twisted in regret and disgust.

"You keep making weird faces," Solidad pointed out. "What are you drinking?"

"…Chamomile tea," Drew hesitated to admit.

Solidad quirked an eyebrow.

"Do you like it?"

"It's...it's alright."

"See, isn't it nice to try new things?"

"Please shut up, Solidad."


	5. Verdanturf Town

**Chapter Five: Verdanturf Town–** In which Drew makes mistakes, learns to apologize and decides to watch May compete when he had no real reason to do so.

 **Author's notes:**  
\- Based on the episodes, "Disaster of Disguise" and "Disguise Da Limit."  
\- Did anyone else find Timmy's mom _unbearably_ annoying? Like I know that was the point the writers were trying to establish but seriously wow…I hated that woman so much in 2004 and I still hate her as a 23-year-old in 2016.

* * *

People knew who Drew Hayden was.

In almost every town he went to, Drew would encounter at least 10 people who would stop and want to talk to him. It was something he'd come to expect, because for the most part, Drew was somewhat famous. His successes in contests gave him that notoriety, and when people – who he had no clue who they were – would rush up to him without warning, he was never really surprised. In truth, he'd never adjusted to the fame all that well, because he liked to be alone for the most part. That made for some awkward moments on Drew's part.

Still, his fame preceded him, and he had to deal with a few fans every now and then whether he wanted to or not. They'd ask him about contests, they'd ask him for autographs, they'd ask him for advice. Occasionally, someone would get brave and even ask him for a practice battle, either because they thought they could beat him, or because they wanted to see his Pokémon firsthand. It was something Drew had always politely declined before turning away. He was never rude about it; he just didn't want to force his Pokémon into a battle they didn't need to fight. Nor did he want paparazzi to record him anymore than they already did. That was the one part Drew hated about coordinating.

Denial and polite dismissals: that was the way he'd always handled those situations when they arose…expect for when some strange kid approached him in Verdanturf Town.

Drew had been practicing with Roselia on the outskirts of town. He'd arrived in Verdanturf just days before the contest day, and he was working closely with Roselia's aim on her magical leaf. If she could master steering the direction of those leaves, he could pull off some new combinations that would score him some big points.

They'd been working hard all morning, in the shadow of an abandoned hotel and in a small canyon that was clearly hardly ever visited. Old debris from everything like trashed cars to bent, useless steam beams resided there, with not a soul in sight. Although, granted, some graffiti on the canyons walls hinted that teenagers probably hung out here occasionally, probably in the dark of night. But for now, midday and nice and sunny, it was silent and still. He'd found his practice space.

After a while of solid practicing, Drew knew that fourth ribbon was as good as his, which was a huge relief considering he'd fallen short of that goal at the Fallarbor Town Contest.

The pair was just getting to a stopping point for a break when Drew registered that someone was watching him. When he turned to face some boy, standing at his height, decked out in a suit, a top hat and a Dsuclops mask, he didn't know what to think. Whether he should speak first or stay on the defensive, he didn't know. This had never really happened to him before. He wasn't scared by any means…just cautious. His Roselia was giving off the same vibe.

Drew settled on watching the mysterious figure as he approached, waiting to see what would go down before making a move of his own. The boy in question stopped across from him, a weird smirk on his face. Drew bit the inside of his cheek and raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"Drew Hayden of LaRousse City," he clarified.

"Who's asking?" was Drew's response.

It didn't surprise Drew that whoever this boy was knew his name. He was well-known throughout Hoenn, and was approaches all the time. There were occasionally super fans whom approached him, some wearing…more interesting outfits than others. Maybe that was just the case this time, too?

The kid's smirk only grew bigger, and Drew planted his feet, waiting.

"People know me as the Phantom," the boy said, throwing his cape behind him dramatically.

Drew rolled his eyes as the thought formed in his head; this was just another kid trying anything to seek attention. Completely desperate, it was almost sad. No longer feeling any form of threat, Drew sighed, and tucked his hands into his pockets.

"Well, what is it that you want?" Drew asked lazily. "Roselia and I were just about wrapping up here."

"I know, I've been watching," the Phantom said, that stupid smirk not leaving his face and leaving Drew to idly wonder if this kid knew how much he was overdoing his whole appearance bit. "I think we should have a battle."

"Sorry, but I don't really have the time," Drew explained. "I've got to finish getting ready for the contest tomorrow. You'll be able to watch my battling there, though. If you enter, we might face off. But I'm not really up for it right now."

That was when Drew and Roselia turned to walk away, throwing a casual wave and a, 'have a nice day' comment over his shoulder. He hadn't taken five full steps before he was called out to, again.

"You wouldn't win a battle against me, Drew," he challenged. "Not here, not in any contests, not anywhere."

That halted Drew in his tracks, a twinge of annoyance flashed through him. Just who was this kid who stalked him out in the middle of nowhere, watched him practice and thought he could get away with making petty comments? And on top of that, it was like he was insulting his Roselia. After he'd made it obvious he'd watched them for some time, he thought he could easily take her down? Drew didn't care what type of Pokémon he might have; he couldn't beat his Roselia.

"Oh, yeah?" Drew halfway turned to face him. "What makes you so sure?"

"Because I know I'm a better coordinator than you are."

That did it, Drew was angry. It took _a lot_ to make Drew mad or upset about something, and this snarky kid thinking he could make such rude comments and get away with it was one of those rare things.

Roselia seemed to be in agreement with Drew before he even spoke, and when he looked down to his partner, she nodded up at him. A fierce determination was etched into her face, and Drew knew she wanted to prove herself as a Pokémon just as much as he did a battler.

"We'll just see, then," Drew announced, turning back to fully face his opponent. "One-on-one matchup, winner take all."

Roselia gracefully stepped a few feet forward, taking her place on the now makeshift battlefield.

The Phantom nodded, and reached onto his belt to pull out a Pokéball.

"Let's take them down, Dusclops!"

Drew watched as the ghost-type was released and drifted down next to his trainer. Suddenly, the kid's costume made a lot more sense, but it was still a bit too tacky, in Drew's opinion. But the Dusclops was definitely a bit intimidating; Drew couldn't deny that it had a creepy appeal to it that subtly hinted at the power this Pokémon possessed.

"After you," the Phantom called from across the field.

Taking a deep breath, Drew relaxed into his battle mode and called for magical leaf, hoping to end the fight quickly with a few quick witted combinations he'd planned to debut at the contest the next day. But this kid didn't seem like a coordinator, and Drew was certain he wouldn't compete. Roselia fired off a streak of glowing leaves, initiating the battle.

* * *

It hadn't gone the way Drew thought it would, as in, the entire battle was a complete 180 of what Drew had expected. In less than five minutes, his Roselia was lying on the ground, completely covered in scratches and panting hard.

Every attack that Roselia had thrown at him, he dodges and sent back his own hits, which were twice as strong. It unnerved Drew; it got him nervous and desperate, which were two things he never felt; especially not in a battle. But the combination of not knowing just who this kid was or what his goal in this fight had been didn't help. And seeing his Roselia; his strongest Pokémon and first friend so hurt on the ground made Drew's stomach churn.

At one point, it stopped seeming like a practice battle and more like a massacre. The Phantom, whoever he was, was relentless. He'd throw out attacks every chance he got, not even allowing Roselia to catch her breath. Looking down at his battered and beaten Pokémon on the ground, Drew didn't know what to do. Should he call her back and hurt both their pride or should he try to keep going? He knew his Pokémon well enough to know that they share the same thoughts: giving up was never an option…but in this case…

"With the reputation you have as a Pokémon coordinator, Drew, I would have thought you would have put up a better fight," the Phantom teased.

Drew ground his teeth together; this was maddening. Not only the fact that he was losing to this kid, but because he was out of options. He had to recall his Roselia before she could get hurt worse than she already was.

The Phantom didn't give him the chance.

"Now it's time to finish you off. Dusclops, shadow punch!"

A double massive shadow punch attack was flying towards them, and Drew desperately called for a dodge. It was the only thing he could do. But it was no use; Roselia was too weak from the staggering amount of abuse she'd taken in that battle already, and she was pounded with the attack's direct hit. She cried out in pain, and Drew could taste blood in his mouth from how hard he was biting the inside of his cheek.

"Wil-o-wisp!" The Phantom commanded.

Drew watched in utter horror as the ghost's fire attack that had caused him so much trouble throughout the match crashed into his Pokémon, sending her flying and landing at Drew's feet. She was completely still, and Drew was practically frozen looking down at her.

"Are you alright, Roselia?!" he struggled to ask.

When she didn't respond, he felt like his heart skipped a beat.

Strong gusts and black flower petals swarmed around him, and Drew had to shield his face from the raging winds. The black rose petals added insult to injury; it was like some kind of sick twist on his famous petal dance. Drew couldn't do anything in those moments aside from trying to withstand the insanity that surrounded him.

The Phantom was shouting something at him, but he couldn't pay attention. He was too worried about his fainted Pokémon at his feet, and trying not to be blown back.

Just as quickly as it appeared, the storm ceased, and Drew found himself alone once again. How it was possible, he didn't know, and he only gave himself a single second to wonder about it.

Next thing he knew, he was on his knees, cradling his Roselia to his chest, looking her over and assessing the damage. This was his first Pokémon, and his absolute best friend in the entire world. He couldn't even begin to process the fact that she was in this bad of shape because he couldn't take a few petty insults, but he also knew part of this was because that kid was insane. There were several moments throughout when the match should have been called, but neither side relented. And it hurt; to see this little Pokémon breathing heavily in his arms, knowing how much she meant to him and how he let this happen.

She was in bad shape, Drew could see that, but he also knew the extent of her injuries probably went well past the bruises and cuts she sustained on the outside as well. This wasn't something potions or paralyze heals could fix. Roselia needed a Pokémon Center, right away.

He didn't even think to put her back in her Pokéball. He carried her in his arms the entire way as he ran as fast as he could back into town, ignoring every single person he passed on the way.

* * *

It was reassuring to enter the stillness of the Pokémon Center panting hard from his long run, and more affirming when Nurse Joy's smile instantly told him the Roselia would be perfectly fine after a few days of recovery.

He handed off Roselia to her, and took a second to breathe out, processing the thoughts that had been repressed since he'd began his mad sprint.

One thing was absolutely certain: he would not be entering the Pokémon Contest the following day. He had other options for Pokémon to use, of course, but he knew he wouldn't want to leave Roselia's side when she woke up, which Nurse Joy had told him would be a few hours at least. She meant too much for him to just walk away and compete. She was his first and best partner, and he would honor that always.

On top of that, there was too much emotion, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this much of…anything. Drew could count on one hand the number of times he'd lost control of his emotions throughout his life, and it never got easier when his feelings went haywire. It was such a foreign feeling; he didn't know what to do.

He was angry; he was _so_ angry that this had happened. Whoever this Phantom guy was, he clearly got a rise out of injuring people's Pokémon and running away afterwards. It was sick; Drew couldn't even imagine there were people that demented in the world. But sure enough, there were.

Nurse Joy had told him that according to her calculations, with the pain meds she'd administer to Roselia, she'd be under for at least seven hours. Drew would be free to leave or stay, and was welcome to see his Pokémon whenever he wanted now that the check in process was completed.

With the rage Drew felt, he knew he was prone to make mistakes or say things that he knew he'd regret later. He needed to vent out his frustrations somewhere. Anywhere but that Pokémon Center. He swore he'd be back before Roselia woke up, and he'd stay with her until she was better after then. At that particular moment, though, he just had to get out of there for a little bit until his head was sorted out.

But of course, the universe just wouldn't let him win that day.

"Drew!" he heard _her_ voice call out to him.

Of course it'd be _her_. Of course she and her friends would be there, coming up to him and apparently wanting to initiate conversations, right after he'd sworn off remembering other humans existed for a few hours.

"I knew you'd be here!" May chimed, happy and chipper as ever; the exact opposite of what he was feeling at the moment.

He'd always prided himself on being civil and a gentleman. Drew knew he'd teased May a lot in the short time that he'd known her. He knew that he'd been a bit arrogant and a bit stuck up in her presence, but he had never, ever been rude to her. And he had no intention to do so, because that wasn't who he was.

Still, with the mood he was in, it was getting hard not to tell off everyone he saw. He had to fight to keep himself in check.

"Oh, hello, May," he'd managed to say with a half turn towards the group of friends as they approached him.

He didn't even bother to greet the others. There was only so much he could do…and in all honestly, he never really cared about them all that much. They were just there; May was the only one he bothered to acknowledge the existence of.

"I take it you'll be entering the big contest tomorrow?" Brock asked, also seeming more upbeat than the last time he'd seen him.

Was everyone just annoyingly and disgustingly happy that day? Were they always like this? Or did it just seem like it because he was so down? He wasn't sure. And being reminded of the contest he'd had his sights set on winning did nothing to help him.

"I was but I'm not anymore," Drew said slowly, turning his back towards them to redirect the glare he couldn't seem to stop.

He heard May gasp behind him, and counted the seconds until they pieced together why he wouldn't bother entering. The answer was literally right in front of them. May got it almost instantly, and he wasn't surprised. She'd proved to be extremely perceptive a few times now. She could think on her feet; he knew that.

"What's wrong with Roselia?!" she asked.

Why wasn't it obvious? Drew didn't understand why she needed further clarification; probably just the universe trying to make his day worse by forcing him to recall all of the horror show that had been his morning. He didn't want to explain the whole story of his defeat to some crazy kid and his powerful Dusclops. That would only make him feel worse. But Roselia's state made it very clear that she was hurt, and he didn't want to go into the details much farther beyond that.

"It got hurt battling," he said, still unable to face them.

His eyes were closed. He was taking deep breaths. He was trying to calm himself down. And then May's idiot friend made a snide comment.

"You mean you _lost_?"

Ash's tone made it clear; he still wasn't over when Drew had defeated him in Fallarbor Town. A quick battle with Roselia and Tailow that ended rather embarrassingly on Ash's part; after all, he did have the type advantage. And when Drew made it painfully obvious the whole point of that battle was to teach May a lesson – that he didn't care about Ash at all – it probably stung his pride. That comment had to be Ash's form of revenge.

Drew could have handled it on any other day, but not _this_ day.

He opened his eyes and gritted his teeth for a moment before ignoring Ash completely.

"I don't think that Roselia will be well enough to battle tomorrow," he said specifically to May. "I'll have to skip the contest this time."

When he heard May gasp the second time, he had to look down. Was she disappointed? It was nice to know someone shared the sentiment. But he was riled up from Ash's comment, and he knew with absolute certainty that he needed to get away from _everyone_ , May included.

There was no point in talking to her if he couldn't fire her up about the contest tomorrow; how he knew he'd win and she would be okay at best. It was a wasted opportunity, and a shame, really.

"Here's a little advice for all of _you_ ," it came out harsher than he'd intended it to, meaning he really was losing his grip on himself. "Watch out for a masked coordinator who goes by the name, Phantom."

With that last ominous warning, Drew shoved his hands into his pockets and stormed out of the Pokémon Center, not having any clue where he wanted to actually go. He refused to go back to his hotel, because he'd have to encounter people and he wasn't up for that. He didn't want to go back to where he and Roselia had been training, because those wounds were still way too fresh.

So he just kept walking straight, with his eyes glaring down at the ground, trying to think of anything that would calm him down.

* * *

Training; that was what he'd ended up doing.

All day, it was more training as a distraction, but it had worked out in the end. Drew's drive during training sessions was as unshakable as it was during contests. It gave him something to focus on, instead of thinking about everything that had happened that day.

And better yet, his Masquerain was performing beautifully and looking stronger than ever. After hours of intense work, they'd perfected not one, but two Masquerain's moves. His ice beam's aim was finally and completely accurate, which had taken almost two months of work. Masquerain had also gained solid control of his bubble attack, steering them into patterns and shapes without the use of psychic moves. It was an impressive feat for sure, and they'd been working on that almost as long as they'd been working on his silver wind. But bubble and ice beam had proved to be an interesting combination that he felt confident could score him some serious points.

At one point in the afternoon, Drew considered maybe entering the Verdanturf contest. Clearly he was finally ready to work with his partner. With his Masquerain looking so good, he knew he still had a chance to win it, even against that Phantom kid.

The thought died quickly, though. He wouldn't enter a contest when one of his Pokémon needed him to be there. That wouldn't be right. A ribbon wasn't worth the love he had for his teammates. So he resolved to continue training, and he'd definitely debut Masquerain at the next contest.

It was when the sun started to go down that Drew realized how much time had passed. A quick check of his PokéNav told him it was getting late and he needed to go check on his Roselia soon. It was a thought that left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, for sure, but he swallowed it down.

After all the training, he'd come to terms with what happened and he decided to leave it at that. It was in the past; he had plenty of time to make up for missing this contest and get his final two ribbons. He wasn't going to stoop down to a level where he held a grudge. Grudges were stupid.

It was quite a walk back to the Pokémon Center; he hadn't realized he'd gone so far away. It just proved how mad he had been, and how relieved he was to have gotten his head back. If there was one thing aside from coordinating Drew Hayden was known for, it was composure.

The doors slid open easily and Drew found himself in an empty lobby. Nurse Joy looked up and smiled sweetly when she noticed his arrival.

"Mr. Hayden?" she greeted him.

"Please, just call me Drew," he waved her off, approaching the front desk.

"Well, Drew, your Roselia is looking better already!" She nodded. "She's in room 7B if you'd like to go see her. I expect she'll be back to full health in two days."

Two days? She needed two full days to recover? That was how injured she was? Drew flashed the nurse and her Chansey a small smile before turning to walk down the hall looking for the room his Pokémon was resting in.

Once he approached the door, he took a moment to make sure he was truly ready to see his Pokémon. Nurse Joy had assured him that Roselia was doing fine and that he had nothing to worry about. But a part of him felt bad for leaving her here when he couldn't handle his own emotions. Who leaves their Pokémon because they're upset?

It wasn't right, what he'd done. And he'd have to make it up to Roselia before. She'd never let him down, and he never wanted to let her down in the ways that he had. He had made bad calls for her in a battle because he'd felt insulted. He'd left Roselia after that because some kid he barely knew insulted his pride in front of another fellow-yet-rookie coordinator he'd been working to show up for some time now. He should have never let his own personal feelings come before the health of his most faithful partner, and he knew first and foremost he needed to apologize.

The door clicked as he shut it behind him, and he moved through the tiny room to the chair next to his Pokémon, still asleep in the center of the bed. It was a very simple room; there was a bed in the center, a nightstand with a lamp next to it and a chair for visitors to sit in. In the front of the room was a TV setup, with the remote lying on the night stand.

She did look immensely better than when he'd last seen her. The scratches were completely gone, and the bruises almost all faded. Whatever Nurse Joy had treated Roselia with, he needed to start traveling with it.

Seeing her so peacefully and relaxed…it was like a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders. He slumped into the chair next to the bed, feeling it slide across the floor a few inches. Roselia's eyes shot open with the sudden nose, and she looked around quickly clearly confused.

So maybe she wasn't asleep…

"Hey, Roselia," Drew greeted her softly.

Her eyes connected with his and she paused for a moment. He smiled warmly at her as she seemed to be recalling the events of the day as well as processing where she and her trainer were. After a long moment of silence, she relaxed back into the pillow behind her, exhaling.

"How are you feeling, Roselia?" Drew asked.

She stretched her flowers a bit and smiled back at him, and he understood.

It was quiet for a few minutes then. Roselia closed her eyes and lied still while drew clasped his hands together resting them on the bed beside her and looked everywhere around the room. Suddenly the plain white walls were really interesting…

Drew Hayden was good at a lot of things. He was good at almost everything. The list of things Drew was not good at was small. It was so incredibly small. Small enough for him to count on both hands, probably. The list probably couldn't be any smaller than it was…

The number one thing on that list was apologizing.

He'd gone almost his whole life without having to say sorry to people for mistakes he'd made. Having such little experience made for some severely awkward moments on his part. But he'd never made any major mistakes. Just a few off cases when he'd bumped into someone or didn't remember a name here or there, in which his casual 'oh, sorry' responses seemed to satisfy whomever was receiving them.

This instance, however, wasn't like those times. This was his first Pokémon and his best friend, and he'd failed her in ways he had sworn he never would. Now here she was, in a hospital shrugging it off like it was all no big deal. But it absolutely was a big deal. She'd always given him her absolute best, and he promised he would do the same for her in return.

So Drew cleared his throat.

"Listen, Roselia…" he started.

She opened her eyes and looked at him, curiosity etched in her face. She had no idea why he seemed so hesitant to talk to her; he was never like this. He wasn't even looking at her, and he _always_ looked at her when he spoke to her. But he didn't; he was nervous now, and it was so odd.

She'd noticed he'd been different lately. Something about the last few months was throwing him off every now and them. One more than one occasion, she caught him doing or saying something she wouldn't expect him to. One such example was how he'd been asking her to make him roses… She wasn't worried by any means, because she knew her trainer always knew what he was doing. But it was becoming more and more common. He was changing, and although it was extremely slow, although it seemed for the better. He was kinder, he was more determined, he was…he was better, and she could see it. She wondered what he would do next.

"I'm just–about today–I really am–" he pursed his lips together and stopped, trying to think of the words she deserved.

It almost startled him when her blue rosebud came to rest on top of his knotted hands. That was when their eyes finally met, and Drew could see her prodding him to say whatever he was trying to say.

"I'm sorry, Roselia," he finally got out. "About earlier today, in that battle with that Dusclops. I – I got angry. I let his insults get to me and I made bad calls, and you got hurt because of it. It was all my fault, and I'm so sorry that I let this happen to you. I should have been a better coordinator, and I should have walked away. I – it won't happen again. I won't let this kind of thing happen again. You mean way too much to me for me to let a few comments from someone I don't even know push me to that point I got to. I'm just sorry, and I hope you can forgive me."

Roselia tiled her head and looked at his face. It was hard and unreadable, but his eyes held a sadness she hadn't seen in him in a long time. Not since their first contest together, when he lost. It was the most profound disappointment, in himself; himself and only in himself.

It was like he'd forgotten they were a team. They were partners; they had been since the beginning and they would be until the end. It was a two-way street; when one messed up, the other messed up. It was never one single side's fault. And she'd done things wrong before, too. She'd botched combinations and failed to pull appeals up to the standards they'd set for themselves, and he never once held it against her.

What exactly was he apologizing for, anyway? Was it for feeling emotion? For being overwhelmed by feeling emotion? Roselia had known him for a while now, and she had come to know Drew as someone who was very closed in about the things he felt. He buried it all down because he thought feelings made him weaker. The only way to win was to be overly confident and never over emotive.

But she was beginning to see cracks form in those walls he'd built around himself. This apology was proof of that, and she was glad he was finally learning to open up. Still, he didn't need to feel bad about it. She never wanted him to feel bad about being himself.

So she handed him a rose, and gave him a reassuring smile, knowing he'd get the message.

He looked at her, surprised. He inspected it a few times over, as if he'd never seen one before, and looked back up at her trying to decode whatever she was saying.

They'd always had an incredible bond. From the moment he found that Roselia in that park in LaRousse, and took her home to take care of her before they'd set out to travel and compete in contests, they'd always understood each other on a level that few trainers or coordinators ever shared with their Pokémon. They were a natural fit for a team from the start, and Drew didn't ever need to speak Roselia's language to know what she was saying.

If they were training and she wanted him to push her harder, he got that. If she was hungry and wanted something, he always knew what to give her to make her happy. If Drew wasn't happy with the way an appeal went, she worked twice as hard to give him the show he wanted to see. If he was confused about what he wanted to do with a new combination, she'd work with him until together, they came up with something great.

From the very beginning, they'd had the upmost and unbreakable faith, confidence and love in each other. It was the type of bond that was meant to be shared with a coordinator and their starter.

Now here he was before her, asking her to forgive him when there was nothing to forgive.

And Drew read that in her eyes, and smiled the biggest grin he ever had in his life, and he nodded at her, taking that rose and resting it in his lap.

"You're the best, Roselia," he told her.

She shrugged it off, as if telling him she already knew that.

They both relaxed then, the intensity in the room had all leaked out, and it was quiet. The only noise was the ticking from a wall clock hanging near the door. A check told Drew it was nearing 10 p.m., and Drew grabbed the remote from the nightstand next to him.

He flipped through the channels to find a local news station, waiting for the broadcast to come on. Drew traveled a lot, but he did like to keep up with current events. He and Roselia settled into comfortable positions and watched the screen, waiting.

When the anchor's appeared on screen, they went through a few quick briefs; a robbery at a Pokémart, the town council approving a budget plan, some reports of mischievous Zigzagoons tearing through trashcans in a neighborhood, the weather for the next few days. It was all simple, mundane stuff, and Drew was about to switch it off when the anchor announced the final story for the night.

"And finally, we'll go to our Contest Correspondent, Brooke Silver for a report on tomorrow's Pokémon Contest. Brooke?"

The screen switched to a live feed of a woman standing outside the contest hall, holding a microphone and smiling into the camera.

"That's right, Ben," she said. "I'm coming to you live from the Verdanturf Contest Hall and I can tell you that after being here all day, tomorrow's shaping up to be an excellent contest! Officials are expecting a huge turnout and some dazzling entries! We spoke to a few of the competitors for tomorrow's contest earlier who were training out in front of the stadium. Here's what they had to say…"

Interviews with some random coordinators from earlier that day played, and Drew paid minor attention to them. He was really focused on the coordinators in the background of the screen, watching them train and display some of their moves. There was one particularly impressive Charizard he spotted, and a nice-looking Stantler at one point too.

With all the powerful Pokémon he could see, he was trying to imagine the countless others that weren't there who would be entering the contest as well.

And then he spotted the color red.

She wasn't doing much; just walking along with her friends trailing behind her, probably looking for a good practice spot. She held a Skitty in her hands, and he quirked an eyebrow. He didn't know she had a Skitty, and he wondered if she was going to use it in the contest.

It made sense; he knew that May was still new at contests and coordinating, but it was almost common sense to never use one single Pokémon to carry you through an entire season. He planned to switch out Roselia after this contest, anyway. So he assumed she knew not to overuse her Beautifly, no matter how impressive it was.

He wondered just what kind of moves her Skitty knew, as he'd never known much about Skittys in the first place. He'd encountered a few of them in contests before, and maybe one or two wild ones during his journey, but he had nothing else. From those experiences, he'd only gathered that Skitty's were capable of knowing double slap and assist attacks; the first couldn't get a coordinator through an appeal round and the latter was way too risky and unpredictable for contest appeals and/or battling.

Still, when used correctly, Skitty's could earn huge points in contests just based on their cuteness level alone, and maybe May knew that.

She walked out of the frame and the young coordinator being interviewed finished his response with an awkward smile.

"I'm just hoping to win tomorrow; there sure are a lot of powerful Pokémon I'm seeing out here today! Tons of pressure."

Drew wasn't paying any attention, and he found himself thinking entirely too much about May and her Skitty; how would she use it? What moves did it know? Could May actually win a contest with this new Pokémon?

He frowned, and he was suddenly a lot more bummed about missing this contest than he had been before. Earlier in the day, he was worried that his Roselia wasn't going to be in anywhere near as good of shape as she was now, but she still wouldn't be well enough to compete tomorrow. And it wouldn't have been right for Drew to leave her again to go to the contest.

"As you can see, we're in for a real showcase tomorrow, and don't forget that our very own Verdanturf Town Pokémon Contest is set to begin at 1 p.m. sharp!" Brooke announced. "Just a reminder to all of our viewers at home that we'll be broadcasting the contest live for those who can't make it here. Live from the Contest Hall, I'm Brooke Silver with Channel 7 News. Back to you, Ben!"

Well, that was that. He couldn't go to the contest and he had accepted it, but at least he'd be able to watch it live on a TV and instead of a shaky online feed from his PokéNav. Drew switched off the television and placed the remote back on the night stand. He looked back at Roselia, who was looking at him oddly, like she didn't understand why he looked so down. But he just shrugged and told her it was nothing.

"It's late," he commented. "I think it's time for some sleep, huh?"

She nodded an affirmative and he reached over to switch off the bedside lamp.

"Nurse Joy told me we'll be here until the day after tomorrow," he informed her. "You'll be back to 100% by tomorrow night, but she wants you to stay one extra night just to make sure you really are better. So we'll miss this contest, but we'll make the next one."

Drew shifted a few times, trying to get comfortable in his chair and finally laid his head down on the side of her bed. The position sucked and he knew he'd be stiff tomorrow, but it didn't matter; he wasn't leaving; not again.

Before then, Drew hadn't felt the exhaustion that was creeping up on him. His long day had finally caught up with him, and it wasn't long before Roselia could hear him snoring softly next to her, that rose she had given him still in his lap.

She waited a few moments before she reached for the television remote and turned it on, making sure the volume was muted so she wouldn't disturb her sleeping trainer.

The channel played idly for a few minutes, with Roselia watching the screen intently before seeing what she was looking for: a commercial for the Pokémon contest that they were supposed to enter. Clips of previous contests played and words flashed across the screen, indicating the date and time for the event.

Of course Roselia knew that Drew wanted to be there to compete, and she had no problems with him doing just that. Even if he just wanted to go watch, she knew he wanted to be there. He loved contests; even the ones he wasn't entering. He loved being there in that environment. Some of the happiest times she had ever seen him have came from when they were observing battles, commenting to her that they could pull off combinations better than the coordinators before them. Or when his eyes would light up, and she knew it meant he'd found some inspiration for new combinations and appeals they could use. Drew wanted to be at that contest; it was painfully obvious, but she also knew that he felt like he owed her something for their battle yesterday. A silly thought, nonetheless, but Drew was hardheaded. Once he had a thought in his mind, it wouldn't go away.

Still, she wasn't going to let him punish himself for something that wasn't his fault. She looked back and forth between the screen and Drew for a few moments. She absolutely knew there was no way she could convince him to compete without her, but she knew she was going to convince him to go there regardless.

* * *

The room was painfully bright when Drew first woke up.

Sunlight bounding off the plain white walls made everything seem twice as bright, like some Pokémon was using flash in an already illuminated room.

Just as he knew he would be, Drew stretched him arms out slowly and felt a dull pain in his neck, no doubt from sleeping in a chair all night. Oh well; that was the price he paid.

Roselia was still asleep on the bed, so it gave him an excuse to get up and move around a bit. It was time to get the day started, so he grabbed his travel bag and made his way over to one of the bathrooms in the dorm section of the Pokémon Center. It was so foreign to him at first; he never stayed in Pokémon Centers like most trainers and coordinators did. Coming from a family with money, he was always funded to stay in the best hotels and resorts in each town. But none of the resorts could take care of injured Pokémon, so he didn't mind. There was a first time for everything, right?

He locked the door behind him and stepped into the shower. The water was cold at first, and it took a few moments to warm up to the blistering hot temperature Drew preferred. He washed off his body and rinsed his hair, the familiar smell of his body wash and shampoo calming him and making him relax a bit more.

Roselia would be fine, and he'd have to miss the contest, but he'd get his fourth ribbon eventually and his Pokémon would be okay. That was all that mattered in the end.

Once he was done in the shower, he made his way over to the small cafeteria in the Center. After looking over his "food" options, his stomach churned a bit, and he settled on just having coffee. He could eat later. The coffee tasted cheap and it wasn't the most satisfying he'd ever had, but it was coffee and his body was glad to have the caffeine.

At one point while he was mixing in some sweetener to his drink, Nurse Joy approached him and gave him the updated medical report on his Roselia. She told him she'd like for them to stay just one more night, and apologized if it inconvenienced him, to which he waved off. His Pokémon's health came first. She smiled, agreed, and was off to go participate as a judge in the contest as per tradition.

By the time he made it back to Roselia's room, mug in hand, she was awake and chipper. She greeted him with a warm smile, and he smirked in return.

"Good morning," he said, taking his seat next to her.

It was almost 11:30 in the morning, and it was the latest Drew had started his day in a long time. It was almost nice to have slept in a little and taken so much his time in his morning routine, but it paled in comparison to the hyper energy that normally filled him on contest day mornings.

"What do you say we watch the contest?" he looked at Roselia, grabbing for the TV remote. "We can talk about how much better than all the other coordinators we would have been..."

Before she could respond, he pressed the power button and the TV screen came to life. It was already focused on the contest hall and the same reporter Drew had watched the night before talking excitedly with some people outside of the building.

"We've got just under an hour and a half before the contest is underway, so if you're not here already, get here fast because this place is filling up!" she spoke to the camera. "Now let's get back to talking to some of our friends who are here already and see what they have to say!"

Drew stared at the screen with such intensity that Roselia almost rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm excited to be here," one young girl said. "This is me and my Shelder's second contest ever so we're a little nervous but we know we'll have fun!"

"My Marill and I are going to take home that ribbon!" another kid said.

"There's a lot of tough competition here today," one spoke rather nervously. "I'm hoping my Spinda and I can pull off our appeal; we've been working really hard on it!"

One by one, interview-by-interview, Drew felt more and more of a sense of loss. Verdanturf had been one of his favorite contests from his first season, and he had really been looking forward to competing there. From what he could see, there was going to be some good competitors there just as there had been the year before, and the next contest on the schedule for Hoenn's circuit was set to happen in Rubello Town.

But with Roselia lying next to him, he tried not to dwell on it. He tried convincing himself these were all just rookies and none of them were worth thinking about; that it would have been a waste of time to compete against them.

But of course, the universe just wouldn't let him win that day either, it seemed.

The reporter yanked _her_ into frame; another interview with another competing coordinator of the day.

Red flashed upon the screen and there stood May, her face almost as red as her bandana as she looked into the camera and quietly introduced herself. Brooke recognized her as the winner of the recent Fallarbor Contest, and May rubbed her neck while looking down and smiling.

Roselia noticed Drew shifted in his chair when she appeared. He was leaning forward the second he recognized the girl on the screen. Roselia remembered her as well, but didn't realize her trainer was so interested in her. He didn't seem to realize, either.

Her friends were standing behind her smiling and waving; Brock and Ash probably had experience with TV interviews seeing as one was a gym leader and the other was a repeated league battled. Max didn't seem like the type to get extremely anxious about things like his sister did. May, however, seemed almost as nervous as she had appeared to be at her first contest appeal. Clearly she'd never done an interview before, and was totally unfamiliar with how to present herself on camera, because she looked quite shell-shocked.

"So, May, tell us, after winning at the Fallarbor Contest, how are you feeling about today?" Brooke prompted.

"Uh, well, I'm looking forward to competing!" she laughed a little too much. "I'll be using a new Pokémon today, and, um, I'll be going up against my friend in the contest, so I'm sure it'll be really fun!"

Idly, Drew wondered who her friend was before deciding he didn't care. But he did notice that nervous blush never left her face, and he'd seen that before. It was when he'd given her the first rose.

"Who is your new Pokémon partner?!" the reporter asked. "I'm sure some of your fans are disappointed we won't be seeing your wonderful Beautifly today!"

"Oh gosh, I'm not sure I have fans!" May waved her hands in front of her. "But um, my Skitty and I will be working together today. We've been practicing a lot and I know we're ready!"

The reporter then thanked her and wished her luck, just as she had with all the other interviewees. Then she relayed something about how they were only one hour away from the start of the contest and they'd be right back after a brief commercial break.

Suddenly, the screen went black as the TV shut off.

Drew wheeled around to look at Roselia so fast, it caught her a little off guard. She kept her hand on the remote and pulled it back a little closer to herself.

"Roselia, what's up?" Drew asked, looking down at the remote and then back up at her.

She didn't say anything; she just raised an arm and pointed at the door, throwing a side nod towards the exit.

It clicked in Drew's head instantly.

"No way, Roselia," he said. "I'm not going and leaving you here by yourself."

All she did was roll her eyes in response, and kept pointing at that door and giving him a hard look, not relenting.

"I don't even want to go," he offered.

She raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed, knowing he was a terrible liar.

"Really, it's fine," he tried again. "I'll stay here with you. We'll go to the next contest, it's okay."

Roselia still didn't relent. She just held he arm out and pointed towards the door and stared into his eyes, telling him silently that he wanted to go, and she wanted him to be there. There was no point in him sitting in a chair all day and doing nothing; they both knew that.

"Are you sure…?" Drew asked quietly after a few moments of silence.

It was a battle he knew he wasn't going to win. Part of the reason he and Roselia got along so well was because she was just like him in so many ways; competitive, a dedicated worker and hard headed. If she wanted something to go her way, she'd fight for it and wouldn't relent.

He looked hard into her eyes, looking for any signs of doubt. If he felt like she was even the slightest bit hesitant, he would not go, and she couldn't convince him otherwise no matter what.

But all he could see was 100 percent encouragement. She gave him a stiff nod, and he broke out into a massive grin.

"You really are the best, Roselia," he told her before standing quickly. "I'll be back at the end of the contest, okay?"

She relaxed, smiled and nodding at him. He reached out, patted her on the head and rushed out the door.

When he was gone, she pulled back out the remote and switched the TV back on, settling in to watch the contest herself. She was more curious about that girl in red that Drew was unaware he was so interested in.

* * *

He was lucky he found a seat.

The entire stadium was packed; the most crowded contest he'd seen all season, yet. It was a true testament to the fact that contests were starting to become more and more popular, and the thought warmed him. Coordinators worked just as hard as trainers did, and in some ways, they worked harder. It was about time they started getting some recognition for it.

Drew felt at home in the contest hall; he felt safe and relaxed in a familiar environment. It wasn't like how he felt in the Pokémon Center at all; there was energy here, and he could feed off of it. It gave him inspiration and focus. It brought him a sense of belonging he didn't feel anywhere else. It reminded him why he loved being a coordinator, and it never got old. There was nothing that could compare to the feelings of being in a contest hall during contest days, whether you were competing or just observing. And of course Drew would have rather been a contestant, but being there in that room with all of the screaming fans and the people who loved to show off the best of their Pokémon like he did…it was just right.

He kept his head down and threw a few "excuse me's" as he cut through a row in the crown, finding a perfect seat center stage. He'd made it just in time, because as he took his seat, the MC took the stage, waving and greeting everyone.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen, fans and contestants, to the Verdanturf Town Pokémon Contest!" Vivian began. "You can just feel the excitement building here!"

The opening went the same as every other contest did, standard and traditional. The judges were announced, the rules were reviewed and the ribbon was displayed for all to see and admire. It was all rushed through somewhat quickly, though; a packed venue full of fans eager to get the contest underway and Vivian knew that. She was the perfect host; she always had been good at reading the crowd and knowing what to say to please them.

The first coordinator to perform, Drew couldn't help but feel like he knew her. Especially when her name, Jesslana was announced, and she pulled out a Dustox. He paid close attention as her butterfly-moth Pokémon landed elegantly on her head and they posed, prepared to begin their appeal. When she launched a poison sting, whirlwind and pysbeam combination, Drew was almost certain this was the same coordinator who tried to cheat in the Fallarbor contest. This time, though, she seemed to be following the rules, so he couldn't complain about it. So he just watched and appreciated her appeal; she wasn't bad when she actually focused on presenting her Pokémon without trying sneaky tactics to better her score. And it was impressive that she pulled off a three-move combination so perfectly. A lot of coordinators only felt safe combining to moves. She definitely had earned her score.

The following appeals were a mix of hit or misses, just like at every contest. It was almost too easy to pick out who the new coordinators were. Most inexperienced contestants were the ones who only pulled single move appeals, hoping that one move was enough. One such example was when Drew watched one coordinator use his Charizard's flamethrower to form a spiral of fire. He waited to see the follow move, but t never came. Drew bet the coordinator thought because Charizards were foreign to Hoenn, it would score him bigger points, and he scoffed when he earned a 20.5. The same situation happened when no more than two appeals later, a Blastoise's solo hydro pump scored a 15.8.

There were a few appeals that came through as better than most. Drew was fairly impressed by a Minun who showed off excellent control of a discharge attack, throwing the sparks like baseballs before combining it with agility, so the Pokémon was actually catching its own attacks. A great showcase of control and speed for sure. Drew was surprised when it only scored a 23.7.

When May walked on stage, Drew didn't realize how much he'd been waiting to see her appeal. A thought he immediately countered with the fact that he'd been genuinely interested in seeing her Skitty and what she planned to do with it. He definitely wanted to know what moves it was capable of.

The crowd went silent waiting for her to call out her Pokémon. Drew almost laughed when he could hear her friends cheering for her somewhere lower down in the audience.

The first thing Drew noticed was how calm May seemed about being on stage. She didn't run out, she wasn't bouncing with nervous energy and she was able to summon her Pokémon in a confident manner. It was like she shared the same feelings as Drew about being on stage and performing; it just felt like a natural thing to do.

Like he assumed, May's Skitty landed in a cheerful manner and was smiling at the audience matching May's bubbly personality. It was going to win points for being the cutest Pokémon of the day for sure.

When May called for a blizzard attack, Drew raised his eyebrows and watched intently. Blizzard was a powerful attack for such a small Pokémon, and he couldn't wait to see how she followed up with it.

Only, she couldn't follow up with it, because it didn't happen.

The move failed, leaving everyone in the room, Drew included, a bit stunned and deflated. Even Vivian looked disappointed, awkwardly clarifying to the audience that Skitty's first attack hadn't worked out. Attacks usually only failed when the coordinator and their Pokémon weren't in perfect sync, and that was usually a result of nerves in most cases. Perhaps May was more nervous than she let on.

She falters for only a second, and recollected herself almost instantly, calling for her next move.

"Skitty, show 'em your double slap!" she ordered.

That was an interesting call. Double slap alone? Just how was she planning to use this to–

 _Are those bouncy balls?_

Sure enough, May slipped back into old habits. She tossed three orange balls to her Skitty, who in turn used double slap to juggle. Drew would have acknowledged how creative it actually could have been were it not so cheesy. Still, it wasn't the dumbest idea for an appeal he'd seen; she was doing an excellent job of showcasing her Pokémon's cute qualities in a playful manner. And the Skitty really did have control over the balls.

He wasn't totally surprised when she was awarded a 24.9, but also was unsure of whether or not she'd make it to the second round. He found himself curious as to how different her appeal would have been had that first attack worked, but even that wasn't his main focus at the moment.

He was focused on her face. Her expression alone screamed volumes about how disappointed she was. She looked crushed, almost as disappointed as when she'd lost to him back in Slateport. May was clearly someone who took losses hard, and she was clearly still struggling with self-doubt. He watched her exit the stage with a worried expression on his face; the sooner she learned that she had to believe in herself and her team, the sooner she could really get on track to become a great coordinator.

The problem with this contest, though, was that out of the 48 competitors, only four people would advance to the battle rounds. There were still 12 coordinators to go after May, and although she currently held the third highest score of the day, it would only take two coordinators scoring a 25 to push her out of the battle rounds and end her campaign for this ribbon.

Though he didn't know if she had planned for it, Drew did the math in his head: if she lost here, she'd still only have one ribbon, and just under six months to get the other four she would need to compete in the Grand Festival. There were still 11 contests planned for the season, but he knew she wouldn't get to them all seeing as her friend was going for Hoenn badges. They'd probably agreed to split their travel time between her contests and his gym battles. That made her situation all the more difficult.

He had been too busy thinking and he'd missed four appeals, but when he heard Vivian announce that the Phantom had take the stage, he snapped back into reality so quickly, it almost gave his brain whiplash.

Sure enough, there he stood: the oddly dressed kid with the Dusclops had entered the stage area. Drew felt his fists clench at his sides and he threw a glare at the stage. He wasn't bitter about losing to this kid in a battle; loses happened every now and then, and Drew was never really one to hold a grudge, just like when he'd lost to Grace in the last contest, and when he'd lost to Robert back in the Slateport Contest. If he lost to a great coordinator, it was okay, because he'd done his best and that was all that mattered.

No, he was bitter about how this Phantom kid had acted. His Dusclops had hurt Roselia badly and then he just left like he'd done nothing wrong. It wasn't right; it wasn't the way a true coordinator acts.

So watching him take the stage brought of mixed feelings of passive aggression in Drew. He knew this guy was an excellent battler, but now Drew would see how his appeal skills were.

The appeal the Phantom pulled off was bittersweet. On one hand, Drew absolutely could not deny that he was impressed. Using wil-o-wisp and psychic to juggle the flames turned into a beautiful show. On the other hand, Drew could tell this kid had drawn inspiration from May's appeal, and taken it a huge step further; the juggling routines had such different themes to them. While May's appeal had a stronger innocence tied with playful cuteness factor to it, Dusclops' combination was flashier and more visually appealing. In the end, that was what won contests.

Everyone around Drew was cheering, and it pissed him off. He had a personal vendetta against this kid, and coordinating sportsmanlike conduct be damned, he had convinced himself that May's was better, only because he himself couldn't show up this kid on the stage. The 27.8 score was like a punch in the stomach. Drew would have scored a 27.9 just to spite him.

* * *

This wasn't the first contest he'd observed, but it was always strange to him that he couldn't go backstage while the judges deliberated the final scores to determine who would move on.

The meaningless chatter in the audience was dull to him; he preferred to listen to the commentary of his fellow coordinators in the waiting room. Sometimes he'd even hear comments about his own performances from them, and he always took those criticisms to heart, forever focused on improving himself. Out here, it was mixed up conversations of "what are we having for dinner tonight" and "so Kailey's boyfriend said that…"

He tuned them out as best as he could, waiting to see who would make it to the battle rounds and mentally calculating from all of the appeals who he thought could beat the Phantom. His only bet was the Stefano kid who had the Wartortle and maybe the Jesslana lady; he Dustox seemed powerful enough. He didn't care who beat him though, honestly…as long as some coordinator put that kid in his place, he was satisfied.

Like he'd predicted, Jesslana, Stefano and the Phantom all passed through the first round and were moving on. Unlike he's assumed, May's picture filled the fourth space, indicating she'd be moving on as well. Maybe it was destiny that he didn't compete that day, because if he had, she wouldn't have made it to the next round. And he found he was happy for her; she'd looked so devastated when she's pulled her lowest contest score to date earlier, and now she had the chance to redeem herself in the battle rounds, which was where she excelled from what he could tell having seen her brilliant win last time around. When she wasn't paired against the Phantom in the first round, he waited to see how she'd handle herself against that tough Wartortle.

May's battle style was…chaotic. He hadn't noticed it before in the Fallarbor Contest, and in Slateport, it was clear she had no idea what she was doing. But now, here she was, fiercely aggressive and offensive in her approach. She was completely unlike any coordinator in contest battles he had ever seen, and Drew wondered where she had learned to battle from. She didn't bother with trying to pull a blizzard attack throughout her five minutes, which was a move much more suited to this type of fight. Instead, she stuck to using Skitty's speed to pull off agile dodges and throwing in tackles and double slaps. It was like she wasn't even trying to be showy with her battling; she was just going for the knockouts, like what a trainer would do in a gym battle. It was the craziest style Drew had seen to date.

It worked well enough, though. She managed to knock out her opponent before the timer went down, and partially attributed her victory to the fact that Stefano clearly didn't realize he had one of the best defensive Pokémon he could have but failed to use that to his advantage. After a brief handshake between the two, May was heading backstage to prepare for her final battle.

One thing was for sure: with her victory, May seemed to be bouncing back from her earlier depression. This girl was a rollercoaster of emotions in contests.

For the next battle, Drew found himself torn on whom to support. On one hand, he hated both of these coordinators. On the other hand, he hated one of them even more. One cheated in a contest and that wasn't okay, but to add insult to that injury, she'd revealed herself to be on that annoying team…whatever they were called. Drew hardly cared. But she had caused him and apparently May's friends enough problems to wear out her welcome. Still, she seemed to be playing by the rules today, and Drew just couldn't stand this Phantom kid, so…

Jesslana it was.

Somehow, he knew she wouldn't win the battle, but he dared to hope for her anyway. A small part of him didn't want to watch the Dustox end up in as bad of shape as Roselia had, and another small part of didn't want May to get destroyed by the Phantom kid, either. A huge part of him wished he was on that stage, vying for a rematch.

Dusclops' big hits shredded Jesslana's points. She'd managed to get a few hits of her own in there, her psybeam taking out a decent chunk of his score as well, but she then got attached to that one move. She fired it off again trying to eat his points up, but he didn't let her hit him twice with the same attack. Eventually it became a power struggle, psybeam vs. psychic, and the two moves collision caused a huge explosion on the stage.

When the smoke cleared, the timer buzzed and the clear leader was the Phantom. Jesslana's costume was thrown to the side from the repercussions of the blast, and her Team Rocket outfit revealed. Drew rolled his eyes when she started freaking out, knowing this was going to go nowhere fast.

Sure enough, her two regular companions – some purple haired dude and the talking Meowth – jumped to join the girl on stage, shouting that they were going to steal the Dusclops. And true to form, May's friend Ash set his Pikachu on them, from the comfort of his own seat. The thunderbolt Pikachu threw evicted them from the premises just like every other time before. Drew wondered if the cycle would ever end; he'd only seen it three times now, and he couldn't help but notice how unbearably repetitive the whole thing was.

With the impact of the thunderbolt, there was another semi large explosion on the stage, and when the smoke cleared, Vivian looked stunned.

"Oh wow, look at the Phantom now!" she exclaimed. "His mask is off andhis face is revealed!"

Drew took a hard look at him, and realized he was just a kid like he'd assumed the whole time.

"Oh my God, that's Timmy Grimm," some girl sitting behind Drew whispered furiously to whomever she was sitting with.

"How do you know him?"

"He's in my math class!"

"We have to text everyone, right now!"

But the drama didn't end there; some woman approached the stage and looked at the kid in pure disbelief before she turned around and bolted away. Drew couldn't be sure, but he swore he saw Timmy say "mom?"

Drew looked down lower in the stands and watched May's group rise and dash to the back stage entrance where Timmy was making his way to. Why was it that every contest that May entered had an unusual turn or dramatic climax to it? It was so odd.

Vivian announced a brief interlude before the final battle so that the stage could be cleared of debris from Team Rocket's sudden exit. Drew sat in his seat stewing for a few minutes.

May was going up against a ghost Pokémon with a normal type Pokémon. On many occasions, Drew had thwarted type differences and won battles where he was at a disadvantage, but May couldn't win this match. Her Skitty's normal attacks would have no affect on that Dusclops, and if she couldn't get her blizzard to work, she was out of luck.

The battle would be over quickly. Drew was sure of what the outcome would be.

Still, he didn't want to leave the contest hall.

He wanted to watch May tackle this situation, and see if she could come up with something.

* * *

In the time that they cleared the stage, Drew had gone over every strategy he could think of for May to use that might help her. Ever scenario he'd mapped out in his head ended with her defeat. Even if she could pull off a blizzard attack, it would only get her so far. And the powerful hits that Dusclops could dish out would thwart her. Her loss was inevitable.

Before he knew it, the battle was on, and both Pokémon took the stage. Drew knew May had to be nervous. The difference in size alone was intimidating. Skitty was a tiny Pokémon, but compared to that Dusclops, it looked even smaller.

Timmy came out roaring with a direct hit focus punch, and right off the bat, May lost a chunk of her points. Her counter was to try a double slap, which as predicted had no effect. May's face became blank for a second as she was reminded of the very fact that her Pokémon was at the ultimate disadvantage, and both she and Timmy knew that. He called out another focus punch in retaliation before May's instincts kicked in, and she had an idea. If her attacks couldn't work, she'd send his own attacks right back at him.

Not only was it creative to counter with an attack that had previously not worked, but it was brilliant. Everyone was pleasantly surprised. This battle might turn out to be somewhat entertaining yet. But Timmy was a calculated battler; he never let the same strategy work twice when he knew it was coming.

So he changed it up, not about to let May use the same counter. He called for the same combination he used in his appeal, and sent an array of flames towards Skitty with wil-o-whisp and psychic, and the tiny cat took a lot of damage.

That same look of confusion and loss took over May's face, and Drew watched her with a worried expression. Clearly she could think on her feet and could battle offensively, but offense wasn't going to win her this battle. She had to use her quick wits to think of something if she wanted a chance.

The clock had already hit the three-minute warning, and she knew she was running out of time.

So, she panicked. She wasn't thinking. She called for more normal attacks.

That earned her a direct hit hyper beam, and her points plummeted. She was losing it, and she called for blizzard, hoping it would work but knowing it wouldn't. Her reward was another hyper beam.

Drew didn't know how much more he could watch. Skitty nor May's points could be able to take much more abuse like this. But even more so, May's face kept falling farther and farther; she was giving up on herself. The worst part was that there was still another minute and a half of this to endure.

Timmy called out for one final hyper beam to end it all, but Drew wasn't looking at him. He was so concentrated on May's face that he almost jumped when it instantly perked up.

Was she excited that he called for another hyper beam…? No. No, this was something else. May had an idea, and he leaned forward in anticipation to see what she was going to try.

When she called it out, he wasn't sure he heard it correctly. There was no way she was going for _that_ kind of attack. Not in a contest battle; it was far too unpredictable. Then again, she'd already put what little faith she had in a failing blizzard attack more than once in this contest. Taking risks was the only option now, and at this point, he was glad to see her trying something rather than just accepting defeat.

Accepting defeat was not the May he was coming to know.

"Now, Skitty, assist!"

Drew had only seen assist used in two contests in his coordinating career. The first time, it pulled out a move that deflected one attack and cost the opponent a lot of points. The other time, it turned into a dud move and cost them the match. Assist was a straight 50/50 move: if it worked, it could earn the user big hits and win. If it failed, it cost the user the match. But the move was 100 percent unpredictable, and it was only used as an absolute last resort.

Skitty shot off a powerful gust attack, no doubt from May's Beautifly, and it actually dispersed the hyper beam. As a high scoring move, that failed hyper beam cost Timmy a lot of points, but more important, it actually evened the score.

"That was bold, using assist," Drew admitted as he eyed the points when they evened out. "Hey, she may just win this match yet."

It brought Drew great joy to see Timmy so flustered by May's surprise final attack, and even more joy to see that he thought he had assist figured out. Clearly he assumed it would produce gust again, because he called for focus punch, which couldn't be deflected by that. But oh, how wrong he was, because assist could draw a move from any of May's Pokémon, and already the possibilities for non normal attacks to fight back with seemed endless.

May knew this, and she capitalized on it.

"Assist, now, go!"

A strong series of strings shot out, and destroyed the focus punch after it barely had the time to form at all. It was a deflection Drew had never seen before, and new to the judges as well, because it cost Timmy more points, and May suddenly had the lead for the first time.

It seemed to click in Timmy's brain that he couldn't possibly predict what assist would produce. He could only hope he would luck out and it would be a useless move.

In truth, Drew did not expect Timmy's mother to reappear, mid-battle no less, to give him a pep talk. Again, every contest he'd seen May attend produced weird events within the event. But this newest random interruption within the battle was so odd, and a bit annoying…because the timer was still going and no one seemed to be trying to escort her away. Her comments could wait until the end, couldn't they?

But oh no, the drama just had to continue. Timmy was suddenly so inspired, that he took off his mask and opted to continue the battle proudly without wearing it. Again, this was happening in the middle of an official contest battle, Drew thought. He wasn't one for sappy, sentimental moments.

He finally called for the battle to continue, and May more than happily agreed.

The wil-o-whisp he called for was stopped by Skitty's assist forming an ember attack, and the orange flamed collided with the blue ones to mash into miniature multicolored sparks. Now the battle had some flare to it, and it seemed more like a contest battle, neither coordinator plagued by reserve.

With another assist turning into silver wind, Timmy finally remembered he had psychic attack to help him out, and he blasted through May's silver wind, finally costing her points for the first time in almost five attacks.

Both coordinators paused momentarily, staring each other down boldly. Each of them had every reason to win; May wanted that ribbon, and Timmy clearly had to prove this lady wrong or whatever – Drew wasn't too sure what the whole story was there. He just went with it.

Four straight successful assists was a lot of luck, and Drew didn't know if May could pull it off for a fifth. But it was her only option, because none of her other attacks had worked. The situation became all the more dire when Dusclops shot off a particularly powerful hyper beam.

"Now, Skitty, blizzard!" May shouted.

Everyone around him gasped, totally shocked she would call for the attack that had failed her twice before. Drew seemed to be the only person in the entire arena to pick up on the subtle change this time; when she called for the first two, she forced it through her lips with a fake confidence laced in the calling for the attack. This time was different: she called for it in a different manner. Everything about her was more sure; from the tone she used to her body language, she now radiated total faith in her Skitty and its abilities. She finally and completely trusted her Skitty to pull off this attack.

And she was right to do so.

A huge gust of snow and ice flew straight through that hyper beam, pushing it straight back and earning May her first direct hit of the match. Dusclops fell at Timmy's feet, the shimmery remains of ice floating down around in. Timmy was just as shocked as the rest of the audience, and the buzzer sounded.

With the success of her last two minutes of the battle, particularly that last attack, Drew didn't need to look up to know that she had won. So instead he watched her face, and waited to see her reaction. She threw her arms up and cheered, before looking down and praising her Skitty, rightfully so. The mark of a great coordinator was when they acknowledged that most of the credit fell to their Pokémon.

Once again, the girl before him impressed him. She had proved herself to be a decent coordinator, now with two ribbons to show for it. She had made true strides since her first showing. And even though she had setbacks in this contest, like props and failed attacks, she'd managed to pull out the win from someone who had managed to beat him.

On the other hand…Drew also knew that a huge portion of this victory was pure luck. The first assist was risk, the second just as much, the third was desperation and the fourth was last resort. He'd never seen more than one assist attack ever work out in the favor of the one using it, but it happened here. And she was the luckiest girl in the world.

Still, that luck earned her a win, and a win is a win.

They crossed the stage to shake hands as was expected of them, and Drew noted that they held on for just a little bit longer than most people did in these types of handshakes. They were also smiling and complimenting each other. It wasn't until Timmy's mom approached them that they let go, and Drew let out a breath. This must have been the friend May mentioned earlier that she was going against in the contest. He couldn't believe May was friends with the Phantom, but then again, maybe the kid wasn't so bad after all. From the bits and pieces Drew gathered, Timmy definitely had some problems at home.

Drew waited around to watch May receive her ribbon. He didn't know why he wanted to stay; maybe he felt like if he didn't see her actually get the ribbon, she wouldn't really have it. Maybe he just wanted to see her face light up again one more time after such a hard fought battle. Probably because he just wanted to see her Skitty, just like he'd always wanted to see her Beautifly.

But when the ribbon was placed in her hands and she smiled the biggest smile he'd ever seen anyone smile in his life, he nodded to himself and decided to take his leave.

He had spent enough time there, and he wanted to be with his Roselia. So he walked out of the front entrance and started making his way past all of those exiting as well. He marched past the reporter who was gushing into the camera about the contest overall and how it was so much better than any other contests she'd seen and blah, blah, blah…

He started thinking about his next contest; Rubello Town was up next. It was going to be a big contest: Drew was going to finally get to debut Masquerain. He absolutely couldn't wait to work with him at the next contest. And he wondered if May was going to be there to see him use Masquerain.

He was about halfway back to the Pokémon Center when his PokéNav buzzed in his pocket. A check of the lock screen told him he'd received a text from Solidad.

" _Looks like girlfriend won another ribbon!_ "

He cringed when he read that, and was hasty to reply.

" _Not my girlfriend, ever._ "

Her response came just as promptly.

" _I didn't say your girlfriend. Touchy much?_ "

He cringed again when he'd realized his error. He was typing out another reply when he stopped and erased it all, unsure of how to recover from the embarrassment of the mistake.

Another message from her appeared, and he exhaled when she'd dropped the subject all together in favor of another.

" _I thought you were going to compete in that one? What happened?_ "

" _It's a long story. I'll call you in an hour, and prepare for the call to drop probably 800 times._ "

" _Why?_ "

" _Because all Pokémon Centers have really shitty WIFI._ "


	6. French Vanilla

**Chapter Six: French Vanilla–** In which Drew finally has some positive things to say.

 **Author's Notes:**  
\- Don't expect rapid updates soon. I start finals on Monday and they'll dominate my entire existence for the next nine days, at least.  
\- If you don't know what a Keurig is, it's basically a coffee filter that makes one single cup of coffee. You put a little flavor cup in it and ta-daaa.  
\- I own and adore my Keurig for the most part, but I'm also totally against them because they're pretty bad for the environment. I expressed my passive aggression in this story.  
\- I started this chapter thinking I was going to hate it, and ended up having a lot of fun with it. It might be my favorite conversation chapter yet. Let me know what you guys think as well.  
\- French Vanilla Coffee: a coffee which embodies the French style of making custard with vanilla, cream, sugar, and egg yolks in coffee to create a sweet aroma and a buttery vanilla flavor.

* * *

"Honestly, this isn't even coffee," Drew scowled into the paper cup. "It tastes like it's trying too hard to be coffee, but with unnecessarily added vanilla flavor, which also tastes like it's trying too hard to be vanilla."

"What does that even mean?" Solidad laughed at him, shaking her head.

"It means I hate Keurigs, apparently," he concluded before trying another sip. "Ugh, seriously; this tastes like someone mixed cheap coffee with straight vanilla syrup. It's nowhere near strong enough. I also strongly doubt any vanilla in this drink actually came from France, thus further proving my point that this is a horrible attempt at French vanilla coffee. If it wasn't for the fact that this is the only option I had in this center, I wouldn't drink this."

"I think you have a caffeine problem," Solidad smirked. "Seriously, what other 12-year-old likes coffee as much as you do? I didn't even start drinking it until I was 16, and even then I had to load it down with sugar and milk to make the taste bearable. But Keurigs are great; you're just crazy."

"I've been drinking coffee since I was eight," he shrugged, placing the cup back onto the nightstand. "When you've tried as many kinds as I have, you learn what's good and what's not. Keurigs are not."

"We'll agree to disagree."

"Don't we always?"

It was about 8 p.m. in Hoenn when Drew finally got to call Solidad.

After the contest, the first thing Drew did was find food. He'd missed breakfast and lunch, and although he liked to give off the impression that he didn't function like normal humans and didn't have to eat, because he was too cool for that, he couldn't deny the pangs in his stomach anymore. So he stopped into a local deli he'd found and ordered some soup and a sandwich to hold him over until the next morning when he would leave town.

When he'd first arrived back at the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy – having arrived back from the contest – greeted him and told him she wanted to run just a few more tests with his Roselia. That involved the three of them going out back behind the Center, and letting Roselia fire off moves on the practice fields. When he asked if Nurse Joy should be away from the front desk for too long, she told him Chansey would handle it until they were done. Roselia had been more than eager to get out of bed, and she practically skipped out onto the middle of the court, waiting.

Nurse Joy had told him to call out all of her moves, one at time at first. She held a clipboard and studied each and ever movement Roselia took carefully. Drew started out slow, and called for a petal dance, to which Roselia responded by flooding the air around them with a blizzard of pink petals and calming scents. It was a huge display, and he assumed she'd stored up a lot of energy from sitting in the bed all day. Magical leaf and stun spore followed, which she also pulled off fabulously. He saved solar beam for last, because he knew that would take the most effort on her part, especially since there was no sunlight to help her charge it up. But despite that, she outdid herself as she always did, shooting out a pillar of devastating light and bowing her head when Nurse Joy applauded her lightly.

Next she asked Drew to call for a few basic combinations, just to be sure. Although Roselia looked great, Nurse Joy didn't want to miss anything. So Drew asked for some stun spores and magical leaves, and petal dances and solar beams. Pretty soon, there was no doubt Roselia was feeling much better. Nurse Joy told them to stay and rest up for the remainder of the night, and she would happily discharge Roselia with a clean bill of health the next morning.

Both Drew and Roselia were thrilled at the news, and thanked her graciously. Nurse Joy told them thanks weren't necessary, and that she was just glad she could help them both. With a polite goodbye, the pair made their way into the cafeteria of the center, the dinner rush of trainers over by then. He fixed Roselia a bowl of some vitamin-packed food for Pokémon, and searched for the coffee pot he'd seen earlier in the morning. His heart almost broke when he first spotted it was missing, a sign indicating entire pots of coffee were only made in the mornings to reduce wasting any resources. In its place sat a Keurig, and a bowl full of little cups of flavored coffee mix to go inside the single-cup dispenser. Drew had yet to have a pleasant experience with a Keurig, but seeing as it was his only choice for coffee, he went for it.

Sifting through his options in the bowl, he narrowed the choice down to the two least offense flavors he could find: French vanilla or hazelnut. He just wanted regular decaf, but it was nowhere in sight. He watched somewhat bitterly as the flavored liquid streamed into his cup.

Now he was lying on the bed with Roselia leaning up against his left side. The PokéNav was balanced at the foot of the bed in front of them so Solidad could see them both.

Instantly, Solidad asked him why he hadn't competed that day again. He'd explained that he hadn't entered the Pokémon contest for a few reasons. The first being how Roselia was injured and she was actually hurt enough to the point of being required to spend two full nights in the Pokémon Center. The second was even though he had other Pokémon to compete with, it wouldn't have felt fair or morally right to compete with Roselia in the state she had been in at the time.

"So why did you actually go?" Solidad asked him at one point. "I mean, obviously to watch, but why?"

"Roselia made me," Drew elbowed his Pokémon next to him.

"That's my girl," Solidad winked at her, and Roselia giggled next to him. "I'm glad I've got you to keep him in check when I'm not there."

"Neither of you _own_ me," Drew informed them with an eye roll.

Both girls just laughed harder, and Drew smiled despite himself.

The conversation then flowed in the direction of Roselia herself. How she was feeling, how good she looked, how Solidad couldn't wait to see her back in the contest ring and so on. Roselia happily chatted with Solidad. Drew knew they had always been close since they met each other formally.

The second time Drew ran into Solidad face to face, she made a point to ask him if she could speak to Roselia; something about wanting to make sure Drew's Pokémon harbored no hard feelings towards her after their tough battle in the first contest. Solidad said she wanted to do so the first time, but was sidetracked with how long they'd ended up talking to each other.

When he first let her out of her Pokéball, Roselia seemed a bit confused, but then slowly recalled the girl in front of her as the coordinator she faced in the contest. Solidad kneeled before her and introduced herself, praising the Pokémon for how beautiful she was. The rest was history.

Roselia took to Solidad almost instantly, just as Drew had. But how could one not get along with Solidad? She was such a humble and kind person; a grade-A human being for sure. So whenever Drew saw Solidad, he made sure to let his Roselia out so they could see each other as well. It warmed him, to know that his Pokémon was so well mannered on her own, and could get along with others, too. And he was thankful to have two wonderful influences in his life; in a world full of people he didn't particularly like, they kept him sane.

"Well, I can't wait to see you two back at it in the next contest!" Solidad beamed, the ever-positive life force that she always was. "Which will be…?"

"Rubello Town," Drew answered. "But I'll be using Masquerain next time."

"Oh?" Solidad blinked a few times. "I assume you're both ready to compete together?"

"Yeah," Drew said. "We've spent a lot of time training together and I think we're finally ready. We came up with a few great combinations over the last few weeks, I'm pretty excited to finally use them and debut Masquerain."

"I'm excited to finally see your Masquerain in action," she agreed. "After hearing so much about this silver wind, I know it'll blow me away. No pun intended. But what are these other combinations that I should expect to see?"

"Of course," Drew laughed. "And sorry, Solidad; you know I don't reveal my secrets to anyone. You're no exception."

He reached over, grabbed the cup and took a sip of his drink then, letting his face curl up a bit in disgust. It wasn't getting any better.

"That's because you're no fun," she responded, to which Roselia laughed again.

He laughed into his drink quietly; their senses of humor was one of the things Drew loved best about these two.

"You two are ganging up on me and it's not okay," Drew deadpanned. "I thought best friends were supposed to be nice to each other?" He side-eyed Roselia. "And I thought you were supposed to be a mature 19-year-old."

"Again, you're no fun," Solidad laughed. "And I'm mature, don't worry. I just like to take breaks from being a grown up when I talk to you, because I know how much you love it."

"Whatever," Drew chuckled as well.

It was true, though; Drew never told anyone about his combinations or tactics. With Solidad, it had nothing to do with trust or anything ridiculous of the sort. She wouldn't steal his moves; she was like four levels about him anyway.

No, Drew's real strategy was that he loved to keep people in suspense; it was part of his overall appeal. The mystery of it all was what usually drew people into his performances, and he couldn't wait to see how people would react to him debuting a new Pokémon. What's more, he had a _new_ Pokémon with _new_ moves. He was expecting to blow Rubello Town away, and he was more eager to enter the contest than he had been before.

Skipping one contest along with following the loss he'd faced in the prior one meant Drew was not where he expected to be in his ribbon count. Before getting to that point, he'd been banking on the idea that he was going to have all five of his ribbons after the Verdanturf Town Contest. Then he would have been going off to secluded parts of Hoenn for months of solid Grand Festival training.

Now here he sat with terrible coffee, a recovering Pokémon and only three ribbons to show for it.

But over all things considered, the strangest part was that _May_ was the one who held what should have been his fourth and fifth ribbons. Well, held wasn't the right word…she _earned_ them. He couldn't deny that she had worked hard and she had earned them. Especially considering she had to beat two coordinators who had bested him to get them.

"May did well today."

The words were out of his mouth before he even realized what he'd said. He immediately realized his brashness and looked down, suddenly all too interested in the folds of the sheets on the bed beneath him. Solidad, who had been taking a sip of her beverage, choked slightly, clearly shocked as well. Usually, she was the one who brought up May's contest performances, and Drew would attempt to dismantle every positive comment Solidad would say about the young coordinator in question. Now here he was, complimenting her totally unprompted and with slightly tinted cheeks.

She was so, so proud of him for it: for being open and unguarded for a single split second. For being honest about what he was thinking rather than trying to write off the emotions he felt. For being so openly and unashamedly human.

Drew had always seemed like the little brother she'd never had but always wanted to her. As an only child, Solidad had always wanted a sibling to look over and after. From the moment she met him in that contest hall over a year and a half ago, comforting him while he held tears in his eyes as he'd faced defeat from her hand and her Pokémon, she'd found that bond with him. And from day one, she'd always wanted the best for this young green-haired boy with big ambition and a secretly big heart. He had grown so much since that day he walked into her life, and she felt her heart swell at the thought.

Above all else, Solidad knew this new coordinator, May, had been the biggest reason for Drew's recent character development, even though Drew didn't seem to realize it himself. And she knew it wasn't her place to tell him. For one thing, he'd deny it all and do everything in his power to prove her wrong, because Drew was against getting attached to most people. Second, this was something he needed to discover and deal with on his own. For whatever reason, Solidad knew and could see this growing into something beyond a rivalry; he could find a friend in her; Drew could grow to find a great friend in May. Solidad would not let this opportunity pass her by. The first thing, though, was making sure Drew recognized her as a rival.

It was extremely rare for Drew to compliment someone completely unprompted, and even more rare for Drew to admit he might have been wrong about something or someone. Yet here he was, having done it again, and about the same girl. May had gone from a shy nameless coordinator who wore a red bandana and tripped her first time on stage to such a powerful influence in this boy's life, and she had to know that; Solidad vowed she would tell her that. Solidad didn't personally know May, but she swore to herself she would meet her one day, and she would absolutely thank this girl for all that she had given to Drew, whether she knew it or not.

Meanwhile, Drew was overcome with embarrassment; his whole persona of being a cool and careless coordinator had crumbled for a mere second, and in front of Solidad, no less! He didn't know what forced the words out of his mouth, but after he said it, his whole mind had been consumed with flashbacks of May's performance that day. How she'd created clever comeback counters, managed to pull off several successful assist attacks and even mastered the use of an all-new attack she had failed to pull off previously, all on the spot, too.

On top of that, he realized that May had impressed him. Not only once, but multiple times, in multiple contests. She'd caught him off guard with witty remarks. She'd thrown him off with beautiful moves. She'd proved herself by thinking on her feet. She'd shown him on more than one occasion that she was on her way to becoming a great coordinator. She'd proved him wrong.

And he'd be lying if he wouldn't admit that.

But at that exact moment, none of that mattered. What mattered was the mistake he'd just made, and correcting it as quickly as possible.

He rationalized with himself that had he not said it, Solidad would have brought it up anyway. Their conversation up until his blunder had been about Roselia getting better, him going to the contest without any real reason to do so, and the atrocity that was a Keurig. Outside of his observational presence, they had barely even touched on the contest itself, and they _always_ talked about the contests.

Solidad seemed particularly keen on bringing up May in performances ever since she first appeared in the contest circuit back in Slateport. Now, Drew had brought her up first, which he had never done before. He also commended her talents that contest without any reason too, which he had also never done before. And now Solidad was watching him with a big stupid grin and shining eyes while he kept a hard stare at the bed below him, trying to stop the slow spread of warmth in his face and ears.

This didn't mean anything. It had to be Drew's subconscious wanting to get the inevitable conversation out of the way, because he absolutely knew that they would have talked about May winning. It was his pride trying to show Solidad that he wasn't afraid to talk about the girl with the red bandana.

But why was his face so heated at the thought of it? Had it always been this hot in this room?

Roselia snickered to herself beside him. He studiously ignored her and raised his gaze back to his PokéNav.

"I mean, granted, it was _a lot_ of luck pulling off that many assists," Drew added to his earlier statement, trying to cover his tracks and redeem some of his pride.

Solidad just looked at him smiled softly, encouragingly; she was urging him to continue. There was no teasing or no "I-told-you-so's" or rebuttals on her part like he would have expected. She just looked at him warmly, like she genuinely wanted to hear him say more; like no comment she could have added or said would have mattered nearly as much as the things she knew he was thinking. There was no hiding from Solidad; she could read people. She could always read him. He looked back, knowing that she wasn't judging him for anything. Her smile was so reassuring and it calmed him down. And suddenly, this conversation didn't feel like it was a mistake anymore. He knew he could be open with Solidad about this girl who had surprised him quite a few times now, because she had surprised Solidad as well.

And there were no snide remarks he could make – no criticism or commentary he could spew – that would make the fact that she'd won any less true. She didn't deserve anything less than honest praise for her performance today. He knew that.

"Her appeal was a disaster at first," Drew said. "That failed blizzard should have knocked her straight out of the competition, honestly. I was expecting her to crack under the pressure right then and there, but she didn't. She got herself together, and she had an entirely different strategy to use. Like once that first thing didn't work out, she instantly snapped out of that and went into something else that would work for her. I've never seen a coordinator with as little experience as her recover from a blunder like that.

"And you know how I'm more of a stickler for more traditional contest appeals? I'm _not_ a fan of props; not at all, really. I think they're tacky and corny and stupid; totally take away from the point of showing off what your Pokémon can do on its own, not what it was do if you give it some hoops to jump through. I hate them, and I've never figured out how to use them to better what my Pokémon can do on their own. But May knew that the strongest thing she had going for her Skitty was how much of a cuteness appeal it had to it. And that juggling routine she pulled really highlighted that. It just…it worked. It's something I definitely wouldn't have thought of. To me, double slap is an attack for battles and only battles. You can't use it in appeals unless you're goal is to combine it with something – like a shadow ball, maybe… – because it doesn't work on its own. But she made it work. How did she even think that up?

"And then there were her battles. That first one, against that Wartortle? She took care of it so quickly. It was surprising; she had no type advantage, and by sheer appearance, that Wartortle looked so much stronger than her Skitty seemed. But Arecues, that Skitty was fast. I know you watched the contest on TV; remember that part when she used double slap to bat away that rapid spin? And she actually reversed it and caught them both off guard? Or what about when her Skitty was too fast for those tackle attacks? It's obvious she's raised that Skitty well.

"Then came her last battle in the final…wow. I mean wow. She was all over the place with that Dusclops. I really didn't expect her to get far in the battle, either. I mean, she had a normal type against a ghost type. Normal against ghost! Is there even a worse matchup possible? Maybe a fighting type? I mean May was just so outmatched today it's almost hilarious.

"When I was watching her call for double slaps and tackles, I was thinking 'this is over.' I couldn't think of one way she could pull any kind of counter attacks or defenses. Did you see her face, by the way? Her face when she realized using normal attacks was useless? She looked like she'd given up, and I definitely had given up on her by that point.

"But when she called for that double slap to send that shadow punch back, something changed, and I started thinking if she was able to think of clever stuff like that on the spot, she should be more than capable of winning the fight. And…well, she did that. The thing that changed after she called that double slap counter was that she realized she could do it if she believed in her partner. I know you could see it too; when she got confident in herself, everything changed.

"I said it earlier and I'll say it again: it was bold to call for assist at all. Those assist attacks were total and complete risks. There's no other way to describe them: it was 100 percent total chance because the user NEVER knows what assist will produce. But the thing is, was it all really a risk? It felt like those chances were all offset when she came to realize that her Pokémon could do incredible things if she chose to believe in her Skitty. And she did.

"Not only that, but that Skitty really showcased the appeal of all her Pokémon in that battle. That couldn't have possibly been her underlying intentions with calling that attack so many times, but that was definitely the end result, and it worked out beautifully. It was like her whole team was working together to take down her opponent. I've never seen anything like it.

"I mean, she just–she did well. She did so well. I was surprised several times throughout the whole contest, all because of her. From her appeal to her final battle, the girl kept me on the edge of my seat wondering just how she'd manage to recover from every setback she faced. And she did comeback, every single time, Solidad! Every single time! She displayed herself as a professional coordinator today. She handled pressure and managed to think on her feet when situations seemed close-ended. I just– she did well. May did well. May did really, really well…are you crying?"

Solidad threw her head back in soft laughter with his question at the end of his rant. She'd been holding back happy tears since before he'd started talking.

"No, no," she assured him, composing herself. "I just agree with everything. I agree. She did well."

"You look like you're crying," Drew challenged. "Or at least really close to it."

"I'm not!" Solidad laughed.

"You are."

"Okay, maybe just a little," Solidad finally relented, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm just– I'm happy for you."

Drew shot forward a bit. Her statement was extremely vague, and he didn't know how to take it. All he knew was that his face was starting to heat up again, and he didn't understand why. Maybe he was wrong with thinking he could talk to Solidad openly…

"You're 'happy for me?'" Drew repeated, looking a little taken a back and awkward, prompting more laughter from Solidad. "What in name of Areceud does that even mean?"

"It's just that for once, I didn't have to force you to be nice," she replied.

"I'm always nice," Drew huffed, looking away, embarrassed.

"Not like that you're not," she shook her head. "Yes, I've seen you compliment other coordinators before, but that's because you've appreciated the things they did and you left it at that. I've never seen you discuss the same coordinator twice, and then this girl came into the picture, and now you're watching her closely than you've watched anyone before. I'm almost a little jealous; you used to idolize me in that way."

"First off, I never _idolized_ you," Drew combatted. "We're friends, and when I was starting out, I–I watched you a lot more because you knew what you were doing and I didn't. And from that, I found and formed my own style."

"Please, you totally worshiped me," Solidad teased him lightly.

"You wish," Drew rolled his eyes, but couldn't stop the smile from forming on his face. "Seriously, you're delusional. You gotta stop being so sentimental and– oh my Mew, Solidad, stop crying! It's embarrassing. You don't even know how long I'll hold this over your head."

"I'm not crying!" she shot back, chuckling. "I'm not, really. I promise I'm not. I'm just so proud to see how far you've come this contest season, and how much you're growing up."

"Yeah, whatever," Drew grumbled, reaching for his coffee cup on the nightstand again. "You're crying… Don't girls worry about smearing makeup when they cry or something?"

"I don't wear makeup, ever," Solidad reminded him. "I only use it if I'm going to closing ceremonies at a Grand Festival."

"You don't need to wear it," he stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, taking a small sip.

"Look at you, being nice about everything tonight!" Solidad chimed. "I'm definitely not crying, but I will admit I'm getting a little emotional. Had I known all we had to do was find you a cute girl coordinator to achieve this incredible feat, I would have tried to find one a long time ago."

"You're annoying," Drew deadpanned. "This'll be the last time I talk about performances with you. I can't have you getting all emotional on me, Solidad. Seriously, I want it to be a challenge when I beat you next time we face off."

"Now that would be the day I cry," Solidad shook her head. "Good thing it'll never happen."

"Count on it," Drew muttered, trying his coffee yet again, and noting with disdain that it just wasn't getting better.

"Like I said, though, I agree with what you said about May today," Solidad said after a moment of recovery, wiping the remainder of her unshed tears out of her eyes. "She did do well, and she is definitely getting better. I wonder if she'd going for the Grand Festival or if she's just trying coordinating out this first season…"

Drew realized at that point that they'd spent a lot of time talking about May. And by they, he meant that he had spent a lot of time talking about May. In the back of his head, he knew it felt good to get all of that out. He'd been thinking about her performance all day and he and Solidad _always_ talked about coordinators who caught their eyes. It was just…it was the tradition. That was all. It was just another conversation between the two of them.

The fact that May had come up a few times now was just because he'd been seeing her at the last few contests he'd entered. And Solidad had seen her as well, so it was inevitable that she'd come up every now and then in their chats. But Solidad had been right: this was the first time he'd openly praised her performance. He'd talked about her before, but…something was different that day. Something that made his chest feel weird.

And he didn't really want to keep it going, because for some Areceus-damned reason, he felt his face heating up again just thinking about that look on her face when she won. That stupidly big smile as she and her Skitty spun around when they were handed the ribbon.

"I really want to battle May some day," Solidad commented off handedly.

He chugged the remainder of that terrible coffee to hide the red in his face he knew was there.

"I really hate this coffee," Drew complained when the cup was empty. "I don't think I'll ever like Keurigs."

Solidad smirked, something mischievous gleaming in her eyes.

"I think if you keep giving Keurigs a chance, you'll not only get used to them, but you'll actually grow to like them, too."

Drew's face burned worse than it had all night, and Roselia just laughed beside him, all too knowing.


	7. Rubello Town

**Chapter Seven: Rubello Town–** In which Drew does some research, sees a new side of May, goes for ribbon number four and gets surprised by someone else.

 **Author's Notes:**  
\- I'm really sorry I'm not updating as frequently. I've been busier on this break that I was during the fall semester.  
\- Based on the episodes, "A Fan with a Plan!" and "Cruzin' for a Losin'."  
\- I always felt bad for May in these episodes and everyone I know just thinks she was a spoiled brat. Definitely going to do my best to balance her side of the story somewhat in the next chapter, but it'll stay with Drew's perspective as always.  
\- (Final)ly done with finals!

* * *

It was a great time to be in the Hoenn contest circuit.

Drew knew this, and it excited him more than he actually cared to admit.

With only six months left until the Grand Festival, the local town contests were starting to get more and more serious. Rubello Town's upcoming contest was an example of that. It was the point in the year when Grand Festival rules started being implemented in order to get all of the coordinators properly prepared for the different rule set. Regular contests in the beginning, a few in the middle and the final one at the end of the season were always single-Pokémon contests. A coordinator went through both the appeals and the battle rounds using only one partner, which was not how it was done in the Grand Festival.

No, in the Grand Festival, everything was stepped up. From the two rounds of appeals using different Pokémon to the double battling rounds, a lot of things changed when it came to the ultimate contest of any region. The contest committee had decided that the most special contest deserved the most special rules, and the contest season calendar grew to reflect some of those changes as the season went on. Beginning with R1 contests that started at the halfway point in the season, where coordinators were required to have won a ribbon prior to the start of the contest to enter, and they would work with two different partners: one for their appeals and one for their battles.

Some towns even implemented R2 contests near the end. Though Drew hadn't ever competed in an R2 contest, he'd loved the two or three he'd attended in the previous season. That was when the claws really came out: coordinators with two or more ribbons always seemed a lot more serious in their entries, because they were the ones who took coordinating seriously and they were the ones gunning for the Grand Festival entry.

There were even a few R3 contests in the season, but only two or three of those occurred annually.

Then of course, there was always that final contest of the season, which had no strict rules or anything special. It acted as a regular contest and anyone could enter. Why? Because most of the entries in the last contest had four ribbons, and it was their last shot to get into the Grand Festival…so they had to earn it. They had to prove they were better than everyone else there competing. But with no limits as to who could enter, the contest also saw a lot of talent from all over the coordinator spectrum. People with two ribbons, people with one ribbon, people with no ribbons; they all entered. It gave the contest a certain "there could be a wild card here" feel, and it pumped the energy way up. Drew had been looking forward to the final contest all season, not to compete, but to observe.

But there was still plenty of time between then and now, and now was the Rubello contest, where Drew swore he wasn't going to let anything go wrong. He'd already tried and failed twice to get his fourth ribbon, and third time was the charm. When he came to realize it was the first R1 contest of the season, determination flooded through his body, and he'd rushed to northern Hoenn to get to Rubello Town a week early.

A R1 contest meant better competition: it meant only coordinators skilled enough to have won before would be entering. On top of that, Drew was debuting a brand new Pokémon in the battle rounds at this contest. The odds were stacked against him and after his previous two defeats, he had every intention to show the coordinating world he was still at the top of his game, and that the last two contests – well, the first contest and the second pre-contest battle which prevented him from entering the second contest – weren't setbacks, just minor inconveniences.

When he'd read over the applied Grand Festival rules the contest would feature after he registered, he had to do some rearranging. This contest required two Pokémon, so he couldn't only use Masqurain like he planned. After a first training session that week, he'd decided to go with Roselia during the appeal and Masqurain during the battle rounds. Roselia was a safe bet; she would get him through the first round no problem, because she was his best partner, and at a contest like this, when only four would advance, he needed his best to get him into the second round. After that, he knew his battling skills could carry him through no matter who his partner was.

But the thought of using Roselia _again_ threw him off a bit. He'd been wanting to display something different, and he had yet to find a chance. It was why he'd been so ecstatic to use Masqurain for the first time. But going into a contest where the steaks were much higher made him want to play it safe in every round he could. He didn't know if his new Pokémon could _absolutely_ carry him through to round two when he was facing more intense competition than before. So he ultimately decided to use Roselia for the first round to guarantee his spot, and rely on his skills as a battler to guide Masqurain through the fights.

On his second night there, he called Solidad to get her opinion about appeals and what she saw in Sinnoh. He was looking to change things up a bit with Roselia and couldn't break the habit of spamming magical leaf. One concept that she told him about in-depth was the sticker seals used in super contests. Drew wasn't too enthralled with the concept of having to obtain his own seal and stickers when he knew he could easily recreate the effect on his own. And that served as his main inspiration for his appeal: how his Pokémon were skilled enough to make their own statement during their entrance rather than relying on some form of artificial aid.

The days leading up to the contest flew by, as they always did. Drew was working closely with Masqurain on battling, and with Roselia on her attack-based entrance to the stage. They'd tried magical leaf a few times, but ultimately decided that petal dance was the way to go with what they were trying to do, because it was her flashiest move and Drew felt more comfortable with it. He wasn't a risk-taker, and he figured he never would be.

Masqurain, meanwhile, was nailing it with his combination attacks. Hidden power was quickly becoming Drew's favorite move, although ice beam and bubble were devastatingly beautiful as well. He'd have to work on a way to combine them all together… The prospect of a triple combination was all too exciting.

While Masqurain and Roselia took breaks, he'd work with Vibrava. He knew Vibrava was getting closer to evolution as he was definitely getting stronger, but Drew didn't know how much longer he had to go. He'd desperately wanted to get a Flygon, but he barely had time to work towards that. He had to put the majority of his focus into his two Pokémon who'd be entering the contest. The months leading up to the Grand Festival would be about getting that Flygon.

But this wasn't about one Pokémon. No, it was for his entire team. He just hoped that five and a half months would be enough time to make sure _all_ of his Pokémon were ready before the Grand Festival, because this year, he intended to win it.

* * *

Before he knew it, it was the day before the contest.

After a previous long day of training, he'd dropped his Pokémon off with Nurse Joy the night before so they could all get some final check ups before the contest. Drew knew from experience that the day before and of contests made for some insanely packed Pokémon Centers, so he had always opted to train hard throughout the week, heal up his partners two days before, and do some mild and light training the day before so he didn't wear them out. No need to get tangled up in that last-day rush of coordinators who were desperate to get their Pokémon in top shape at the last minute.

The walk from his hotel back to the center the next morning was nice. It was a beautiful day in Rubello Town. The sunshine felt good on him and the fair temperatures were a welcome change. Hoenn was known for its blistering heat and mild winters. There were only a few towns in all of Hoenn that ever saw snow during the winter, and Rubello Town being so far north was one of them. But even in the summer, Rubello settled around the mid 70's temperature-wise. Today it was a lovely 68 degrees, and it was nice to not have to hate the sun during a morning stroll.

The front doors of the Pokémon Center slid open and Drew almost fell flat on his face when he saw the group speaking to Nurse Joy at the desk. Their backs were to him as he stood somewhat awkwardly in the doorway, because he was actually somewhat shocked. This was the same group he'd run into the last two towns he'd stayed in; the same group that _May_ traveled with. None of them turned when he entered.

And there she was, front and center of the group, asking questions while he stood there in the doorway staring at her red bandana like an idiot.

His mind flashed back to his previous conversation about her with Solidad, and how they both wondered if May had any plans on going for the Grand Festival. From what he'd heard, Nurse Joy was explaining how to enter the contest in the town. It didn't surprise him that May didn't know what R1 contests were. But apparently she was here to compete for her third ribbon; maybe she was trying to get the five and secure a spot in the Grand Festival.

Drew even started picturing May sharing the stage with him at the Grand Festival. Her tossing Frisbees to her Pokémon on the appeal stage and shooting silver winds. The image morphed to her and him, facing off against each other in the battle round, Roselia and his future Flygon firing off fatal attacks and wondering how she'd try to counter…

It wasn't until a group of trainers tried to squeeze through the door past him that he snapped out of his _completely_ _delusional thinking_. This was May; the girl who'd fell down at her first contest. The girl who'd won her last contest on pure luck. Although he'd openly admitted she'd improved a lot since day one, she still was nowhere near Grand Festival ready.

With a stiff shake of his head, he regained the ability to move. And to think.

"Oh, sorry, excuse me…" he muttered quietly, nodding at the two behind him and moving to the center of the lobby behind May and her friends.

"This contest is class R1, so that means every entering contestant must have earned at least one ribbon so far," Nurse Joy explained to May and her friends. "It's the Grand Festival rules which we use in all our contests."

"I haven't heard of the Grand Festival…" May admitted somewhat sheepishly.

He felt his eyes roll on instinct. Of course she hadn't heard of only the biggest contest in the entire coordinating world. And yet somehow she _still_ wanted to be taken seriously as a coordinator.

Suddenly, the need for his presence to be known was all too real; this was just too good an opportunity to pass up, and getting on May's nerves was one of his favorite pass times.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" he asked out loud.

The group turned to face him, looking a little surprised to see him.

"Drew?" May asked, a little disbelieving.

He smirked; hearing her say his name in a confused yet reserved tone was always satisfying.

"That's right," he nodded slightly.

She composed herself as she approached him, a warm smile on her face and optimism strong in her voice. She was almost as disgustingly happy as Solidad could be.

"Are you entering the contest, too?" she inquired.

Wasn't it obvious?

"Yeah," he answered. "It's kinda small time, but I suppose it's pretty good practice for anyone who wants to answer the Grand Festival. Course, I wouldn't expect a certain coordinator who just stumbles from one contest to another to understand…"

A scowl instantly overtook her features, and his smirk grew a little bigger.

"Excuse me, Drew," she said with a twinge of bitterness. "I happen to have won the last two contests that I entered. I'd hardly call that _stumbling_."

She'd pulled out her ribbon case to show off her two ribbons for emphasis. She practically shoved the tiny box at him, trying to prove her point even more.

Areceus, he loved it when she was mad. He loved the way she got fired up, the need to prove him wrong and win contests. Because in turn, her drive fueled his need to win as well; the way it drove him to want to do even better than she did…it was insane. And all he could do was smirk at this girl, more than happy to keep fueling this fire before him.

"Well if you say so…" he said easily. "I'm just telling you how it looks to me…"

Drew knew he absolutely needed to win this contest. For one, he was already behind on his ribbon count and he refused to get any more off track. Second, he knew that he had won before, and so did she, but May hadn't seen him win in person. She'd only seen his ribbons; the proof that he'd won, but not the actual talent that went into earning those wins. The thought was weird. He'd spent a lot of his time telling her that he was better, and she had yet to see that first hand in the form of an actual victory. It felt like it was all bark and no bite.

Now, he had every reason to win, and pumping May up was only making him want that victory all the more.

May stood in front of him gritting her teeth in frustration. He could tell she was putting all her effort into coming up with the perfect response. Something that she felt would put him in his place. Then she would storm off to train, and he'd go on to do the same thing.

Before she could respond, however, they were both thrown off by the shriek of a group of women. Next thing Drew knew, May was out of sight. He was surrounded by a group of adults with starry eyes and huge smiles. He blinked a few times, confused by the sudden change. He was partially glad May couldn't see him anymore, because his face was one of complete and utter confusion. He never did well with mobs of fans.

To make matters worse, they were all shoving pictures and items of himself in his face. He saw himself as the background image of a cellphone's home screen; that had been weird. He looked to the left and noticed a miniature action figure of himself; he definitely hadn't – and knew he never would – agree to dolls of himself being mass produced, so that was even more unsettling. The printed out pictures of himself weren't as bad, because he knew he'd been photographed before, but seeing so many didn't make him feel any better.

"Oh Drew, I have got to be your biggest fan!" one of the ladies gushed.

"Look at all my Drew keepsakes!" cooed another.

Drew's eyes scanned over all of these women crowding him; they all looked like they were in their later 30's. It wasn't an insulting thought; he was never rude to anyone who didn't deserve it. It was just…it was all _extremely_ uncomfortable, to say the least. He could feel himself sweat a bit out of embarrassment, his face heating up from all of the awkward attention.

"That's…great?" he didn't know what to say.

"Drew, I've always thought of myself as a bit of a talent scout, keeping an eye out for talent like yours!" one of them exclaimed as he turned to face her. "Take a look! I have photographs from _every_ single contest you've been in!"

True to her statement, she held up a stack of photographs. The top one he recognized as his very first contest; a picture of he and Roselia posing for the crowd at the end of their appeal. It had been so long ago, and he couldn't imagine what other pictures lie in the collection. Was that supposed to impress him? It came off as a bit stalkerish. Drew suddenly wanted to be anywhere but there, but this lady clearly wanted a response and at the present moment, he didn't have an escape.

"Oh…" he tried to smile but it felt like a horribly failed attempt that produced a terrible frown. "I'm honored…wow…"

"So, can I have your autograph, please?!" she sounded so desperate.

Drew reached his hand up to his forehead to rid himself of the small layer of sweat that had built there. He dismissed her plea with a flick of his hair, hoping it could relay the message he wasn't exactly as thrilled as they were about the fan club.

"No, I don't do that," he told her honestly.

It was true; he'd never signed a single autograph in his entire coordinating career, and he had no plans to start that day. But his attempt to disarm the ladies backfired as they all swooned.

"HOW COOL," they all chanted. "HE ACTUALLY TURNED HER DOWN!"

This was embarrassing to the highest degree. The fact that May had been there watching this all go down screamed in the back of his mind as he desperately tried to get the women not only to calm down, but to give him a little bit of breathing room. It felt like they were closing in on him, and for the first time in his life, Drew felt claustrophobic.

He was so overwhelmed, he didn't notice when one of them slipped away from the group and approached May.

"You're so incredible, Drew!"

"What Pokémon are you going to use in the contest?!"

"Drew, is it true that your Roselia can create over 10,000 petals per petal dance like it said in _Coordinator's Weekly_?!"

"Can I get you a coffee, Drew?! I know how much you love coffee!"

They shot question after question at him. Even if he'd wanted to respond to any of them, he couldn't; they weren't giving him the chance to do so. He was racking his brain trying to think of an excuse to leave, but over all of that insane chatter, he couldn't even hear himself think.

But then, a silver lining appeared.

"Hey, you guys, over here!" One voice shouted above the rest, and all the ladies – and Drew – looked over to the booming voice. "I've got Norman's daughter, May!"

Not even a second later, he was left alone, staring at the backs of the women who had just swarmed him. They were all suddenly very interested in May, and he was even more confused than he had been a few moments before. What caused the sudden surge of interest in May? He knew that she'd probably have a few fans somewhere in Hoenn after winning two contests, but there was no way her presence had generated just as much excitement as he had.

Something about what that woman said attracted the rest of them over to her. She'd said, "Norman's daughter." Who was Norman? Clearly someone notable, because they'd all flocked to her without a single second of hesitation. Clearly May and her little brother, whatever his name was again, – Max, maybe? – came from some form of a famous family, but without a last name, Drew wasn't too sure of who they were. And he was suddenly extremely interested in knowing.

He couldn't see May's face behind the circle of ladies now surrounding her, but just incase she was looking, he flicked his hair, smirked and turned to walk away.

He'd pick up his Pokémon a little bit later, when the excitement in the lobby died down and the women left. Now he was heading to the computer lab in the Pokémon Center, determined to find the answer to his question online.

 _ **Who was May**_ **?**

* * *

Her name was May Maple.

She was the daughter of Caroline and Norman Maple. Norman was a gym leader for the Hoenn Trainer League. His gym and home were in Petalburg City. He specialized in normal type Pokémon, and trainers who managed to beat him were awarded with a balance badge.

It hadn't been hard to find what he wanted online. All he had to do was search, "Norman" and "Hoenn" to bring up an archive of multiple feature stories and other articles about May's father.

The second or third piece he'd found was a feature article about Norman's life in Petalburg. The article had been dated over four years old, probably back when May was only six or seven. Norman had conceded to an interview about his home life and his family. It was the third part in a series of gym leaders of Hoenn; what their lives were like outside of the gym.

Though slightly dated, the article answered a lot of the questions Drew had. It had been an extremely informative interview, laced with pictures from some professional newspaper photographer throughout the story. It was all divided into organized sections; each member of the family got a little bit of time to speak on behalf of the head of the household. Drew found certain questions from each section more interesting than others.

First and foremost, the article featured Norman, who was the real center of attention.

 **Q: How do you balance being a full-time gym leader and a full-time father?** ** _  
_** _  
"Well, you know, it's an interesting life, if not a hectic one! But I wouldn't trade it for anything; I love what I get to do. I manage things by working the gym in the morning through the afternoon, a little bit past when May and Max get out of school. This isn't like all the other gyms where trainers can set up a battle time and meet with me then for their match. I've got set hours in place, and any trainer is welcome to come within those hours of 8 a.m. through 4 p.m. It's how I make sure I can spend time with my family. I hate to close the gym completely, though; I love battling and I love being the leader, but I also love my kids and I want to spend time with them as they grow up. Heck, I only have about three years before May – my oldest – sets off on her trainer journey! And even with Max only being four right now, he knows it's what he wants to do as well. So I make sure I have time outside of the gym so I can enjoy these years with them while they're young and still here at home, even though most days, Max just wants me to take him back in here and show him my Pokémon. Bottom line is, it's a busy life. Once they leave, I imagine I'll have to keep the gym open full time just to keep myself from getting bored."  
_  
At the bottom of his interview was a picture of himself looking cool and confident, arms folded while standing in the center of his gym on the battle floor, a Slaking and a Vigoroth on either side of him.

The next section focused more on his wife; how she and her family moved from the Johto region when she was younger and what she did as a stay-at-home mother of two children.

 **Q: What do you do in your spare time?  
**  
 _"Goodness, spare time? You mean when I'm not keeping the house straight after two my two kids tear through it? You know how children can be, especially siblings; always on each other for something. It reminds me of how I was with my older sister when we were their ages… But to answer your question, there's not a lot of free time, I suppose! I do enjoy going out to the greenhouse where Norman's Pokémon rest during their off time. I have a lovely garden going in there right now, and the Pokémon actually love to help me take care of it. I've grown quite fond of those Pokémon, you know; I consider them a part of our family. They're just so wonderful, really."_

The section ended with a picture of Caroline in said greenhouse, happily watering some kind of flowers with perhaps the same Vigoroth next to her, looking equally as joyful.

May and Max's sections in the feature story were relatively short, probably because they were younger and unfamiliar with press coverage. It was surprising that they'd gotten to answer questions at all with them being so young at the time, honestly. Max's questions were all extremely simple, like what he wanted to do what he grew up, to which he responded with a predicted answer of wanting "to do what daddy does!" and other answers you could expect from a four-year-old.

May's questions, although a bit more complex, were still notably plain and easy as were her answers, although a few questions did catch his attention.

 **Q: Are you going to become a great Pokémon trainer like your father?  
**  
 _"I guess so. I mean that's what everybody always asks me all the time anyway. But Max wants to be a trainer for sure…pretty bad, I think."_

It wasn't exactly a direct answer to the question, but a trainer? She wanted to be a trainer? So how did she end up coordinating? The two really weren't totally opposite when you looked at them side by side, but they were different enough to be respected as different professions. Something was missing here.

He read on.

 **Q: So you plan on taking over the gym when your dad retires?  
**  
 _"Max really, really, really wants to do that."  
_  
She dodged the question again. She brought up her brother again. She didn't say anything about Pokémon again. There was a pattern here.

 **Q: Have you caught any Pokémon yet? If not, have you thought about what you want to choose as your beginner Pokémon?  
**  
 _"I haven't thought about it a lot. Maybe I'll think about it later. I'm sure Max already has his whole team picked out, though."_

The family photo at the end of the article only further proved the theory forming in his head. There sat the Maple family, on a couch, all smiling politely for the camera. Norman and Caroline were in the center, while Max sat next to their dad with Slaking and Vigoroth behind them. May sat on the other side of the couch, a Slakoth draped over the arm of the sofa closest to her. She was pressed tightly against her mother, getting as much distance from that Pokémon as possible. Her smile was tense and anxious, like she couldn't wait to move away from where she was.

After that third question, it all clicked for Drew. May obviously hadn't been interested in Pokémon when she was younger. Maybe that's why she was so determined to be a coordinator; to prove she could be talented with them? Maybe to prove to herself that Pokémon could be great. The possibilities were endless. But it still surprised him that coming from such a strong Pokémon family, she struggled to start liking them at all. Obviously she had somewhere down the line, because she was now a growing coordinator. But still…what had changed?

Part of him wanted to know.

When he realized that, he practically convulsed. He had to stop, because he was getting on his own nerves at that point. Sentimentality didn't suit him well. Just over a week before that day, he was practically gushing to Solidad about how well she'd done in her last contest. Now he was looking her up online? What was happening to him? He didn't like it, and it was going to stop right then and there.

This was May; a silly little doe-eyed girl who'd gotten lucky in her two contest wins. He could praise her quick wits and notable family ties to great battling, but at the end of the day, luck was what won her those ribbons. And her luck would definitely run out at this next contest, because the next ribbon was _his_. He'd spent enough time fooling around that season; it was time to get serious. It was time to stop thinking about May and how she was improving, and time to start working on getting himself ready for his ribbon cup.

The little clock on the computer's desktop told him he'd wasted almost two hours reading articles on May's father, trying to find any details he could about her. With a frustrated grunt, he cleared the browser history on the computer he'd used and stood up a little too quickly. He was quite determined to get out of that center and get back to training.

This girl had unknowingly gotten into his head and thrown him off his game. That wasn't going to happen again.

A peak around the corner revealed an empty lobby to Drew, much to his relief. With no more fan girls crowding the space, he strolled up to the front desk with a tight smile planted on his face. The Nurse Joy looked up from her book and smiled back.

"Drew Hayden," he greeted her. "I dropped off my Roselia, Masqurain and Vibrava here yesterday. I'm here to pick them up."

"Oh, right, of course!" Nurse Joy nodded. "They're all perfect! Let me just go grab them for you."

Good. He wanted perfect. He wasn't going to show off anything less this time around.

* * *

The hours blended together.

Drew had been working hard with his Masqurain for hours. He was 100 percent confident in his Roselia's abilities. She would win him big points just as she always had. He was also confident in his Masqurain, but a little extra practice didn't hurt. This was his Pokémon's debut performance, and he wanted to be absolutely sure that the butterfly Pokémon was in top form.

And oh, he was.

Masqurain's quick attack was faster than ever. His hidden power brighter than it had previously been. Ice beam was devastatingly beautiful. Everything was looking grade-A contest ready.

"Good, Masqurain, that's the way!" he complimented his partner after another successful attack.

He didn't notice when the sun had gone down, but he didn't care when he realized it had. Nighttime had proved to be even better for practicing his moves with his new partner; that full moon really adding onto the appeal of the fabulous bubble patterns Masqurain was shooting off.

When Masqurain began spinning like Drew had taught him, it played out exactly how he'd wanted it to: waves of bubbles fitted into the night sky. It was incredible how Masqurain had mastered such control over his bubble attack in their months of training, using them to create an illusion of rings around the full moon. Drew knew that in itself could become a great appeal on its own, and he'd have to eventually catch a Pokémon with the moonlight move and combine the two sometime… Maybe use hidden power as comets or stars…

He was in his element. The only time he felt more of himself was when he was on stage with his team. But he put all his focus on his training and he knew this contest was absolutely his.

His mental images of future combinations and victories were cut short when he heard rustling in the bushes behind him. It had caught him a little off guard, as he hadn't seen another person or Pokémon in hours. And he'd been so wrapped up in what he had been doing, he failed to notice he was being studied. The thought irked him a little until he realized just who was watching him.

"That's beautiful!" May squeaked from her hiding place.

Of course it was _her_ , because she had a habit of showing up and catching him off guard when he least expected it. She had a habit of surprising him.

And he hoped she really did believe that the moves his Pokémon was pulling off were beautiful, because he wanted her to know that he was giving it his all this time around. That she was going to see him come out on top.

The thought of continuing practice without acknowledging her was tempting, but he had to decline. He refused to continue after that, because the rest of his tricks she'd see in actual show. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't rile her up. He absolutely had to go through with that.

"Excuse me," he called out, not turning out even when he heard her half shriek. "If you're studying my moves, you should probably come closer."

There was no witty comeback about how she wasn't impressed. There was no comment about how she was going to win. There was no say on how her Pokémon and her would beat him. No, instead, she approached him, a little shyly at first, but somewhat determined, like she wasn't going to let him get inside her head this time.

"I see you found yourself a new Pokémon," she said, approaching him.

He couldn't help but smile to himself, and he couldn't wait to show her his own silver wind in the contest. He ignored the little voice in his head reminding him that he caught this Pokémon to outdo _her_ specifically, because she was nowhere near his level. He also conveniently left out the part where he'd had this "new" partner for a while.

"You got it; one with style and grace, good endurance and crowd appeal" he said, half directed at her, but also half directed at his Pokémon, just so he could show Masqurain how excellent he thought his Pokémon was doing. "I was looking a long time; I wanted the perfect contest-winning Pokémon and with Masqurain, I have it."

This conversation didn't feel anything like the regular conversations he'd always had with her. He didn't feel the need to tease her, or belittle her skills or anything of the sort. He turned to face her, and looked at her curious smile. She wasn't there to be competition to him in that moment. She just wanted to appreciate his new teammate, coordinator to coordinator. It was that simple.

"And now winning this contest should be a sinch," he added. "I hope you liked catching our little preview."

"Yeah, I did!" she admitted, a wide smile overtaking her whole face. "That last bit, it was really gorgeous."

Her compliment warmed him for some reason. He'd heard her compliment him before; this wasn't a new thing. But the moment they were in, when they weren't trying be better than each other for once…it was nice. And it made him all the more proud of the hard work his Masqurain had put in training for tomorrow's contest.

Almost every part of him wanted to flick his hair and smirk at her and throw off some bit about how she stood no chance, but there wasn't a need for that. The moment was pleasant, and he found that he actually didn't want to ruin it.

"Thanks," he told her. "You've got excellent taste."

Out of nowhere, a tiny Bulbasaur bounded into his view. May didn't seem phased at all, indicating to him that it was her newest Pokémon. Judging from its size, Drew deduced it was still fairly young, perhaps even still a baby itself. But he'd never seen a Bulbasaur in person before, and was impressed she'd captured one. He also made mental notes of her growing team: she now had a Torchic, Beautifly, Skitty and a Bulbasaur. Somehow, they all seemed to match her personality.

"So May, it looks like you've got a new Pokémon as well," he said, intending for it to sound like a positive comment; he wanted her to know that he was interested in her team as well.

"I do!" she answered, chipper as her baby Bulbasaur.

"A Bulbasaur; that's a pretty rare Pokémon in the Hoenn region," he stated, trying to explain just how significant her new partner was incase she didn't already know, which Drew didn't put past her. "So, you gonna enter Bulbasaur?"

He was genuinely curious. It was like he said. Most Kanto Pokémon were rare to Hoenn, and Bulbasaur was extra uncommon to the region. Rare Pokémon often scored better that region-based Pokémon did, because they were different that the usual ones contests saw commonly. If May knew that, it could certainly give him more of a challenge, and more of a reason to look forward to beating her.

"I still haven't decided yet," she admitted.

Of course she hadn't. With less that 24 hours until the start of the contest, of course she hadn't made up her mind about which of her Pokémon she was going to enter with. The fact that she actually had to choose two Pokémon to compete with this time around was even more laughable. Now that was the ditzy girl he'd come to know by then. She was still as clueless as ever, wandering from contest to contest.

Every coordinator had a certain style to them, and Drew was starting to put together an idea of hers. May was clearly a carefree and happy-go-lucky type. She seemed to rely on luck rather than skill, which wouldn't take her all the way to the top if she was going for the title of Top Coordinator. But using assist so many times, waiting until the very last minute to choose what Pokémon to compete with…it was all too risky. Sure, it had paid off for her a few times, but it wouldn't always. Especially now, in the more serious half of the contest season; she'd definitely crash and burn.

"Come on over and say hi," she said to her Bulbasaur.

But the grass type ignored her, happily chirping in its own language to his Masqurain floating above. It was definitely a baby and definitely new to May, because the lack of discipline was overwhelming, and it made Drew want to laugh. He refrained.

After a few seconds, Drew could practically feel the tension rolling off May. Out of the corner of his eye, her easy smile fell into an embarrassed glare, looking down at the Bulbasaur with a slight red tint in her cheeks. Drew could only fight to hold his laughter back harder.

"Hey, you heard me!" she urged. "Come over and say hi!"

"I don't know…" Drew chuckled. "Looks like a discipline problem to me…"

She snapped her glare over to him and huffed. Drew pursed his lips, because it was funny. This was such a reflection of May in her own Pokémon. But he really had meant it as a joke. Their interaction up to that point had been nice, and he hated to see it end. He only spoke his mind, and he meant it to be playful, not insulting.

Still, maybe this was for the best. He couldn't have her thinking he was going soft.

"No way," she stressed. "And I am using Bulbasaur."

She folded her arms and turned away from him then. Drew couldn't tell if that red in her face was still from embarrassment or anger. But still, was she that proud? This Pokémon clearly wasn't ready for contests; Drew doubted she'd had much training time with it. But was her pride that important to her? Would she risk using this inexperienced Pokémon to prove a point?

It didn't seem like her at all; it was a new side to May for sure. Not the risk-taking part. No, he'd seen her take risks since day one. But this new found arrogance and pride. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. All he knew was that the contest was going to be interesting if she really was serious. Maybe even too easy, and Drew didn't like things that were too easy.

Should he try to talk her out of it? Should he tell her to play it safe with Skitty and Beautifly, who had already won her ribbons?

"Sure you can handle it?" he tried.

"Of course I can, thanks," her words were practically dripping with a mix of sarcasm and venom. "I'll see you in the contest, Drew."

With those final remarks, he spun on her heels and walked away. Her Bulbasaur seemed confused for a moment, but rushed off to follow her soon after.

Drew kept the smile on his face as she walked away from him. He even allowed himself a small laugh knowing she could hear him. It wasn't until she turned the corner of the building and was out of sight that his face fell into a frown.

He looked back up at his Masqurain, who was watching him curiously.

"Well," he said. "I guess that's that."

* * *

Backstage was as it always was: full of both nervous coordinators shaking with anticipation as well as the seasoned coordinators who were familiar and didn't get anxious before the start of contests.

He had come to expect this type of environment in contest halls, and he fed off this nervous energy. It was more of a push for him to want to do better. And in an R1 contest, everyone here had to have some skill.

Drew hardly noticed those around him as he prepped his Roselia, reassuring her that their appeal was going to be phenomenal, and she nodded back at him, confident in herself. She'd been practicing this routine for about a week now and she was flawless in it by now.

With a final nod, he returned Roselia to her Pokéball, telling her to be ready for the next time she was released.

Vivian was just announcing the beginning of the contest when May and her friend – the older woman – walked in, happily chatting about something trivial, he was sure. He really wasn't paying attention to what they were saying. When they stopped in front of the front stage screen and to pay attention to the introduction, May plopping down on the bench next to them, he turned back away from them.

But for some reason, he found himself listening to their conversation.

"I'm so nervous I can barely remember my own name…" the older woman he recognized from the other day admitted.

"Savannah, you just have to relax!" May reassured her sweetly. "If you're all tense, your Pokémon will know it and they'll be nervous also."

Well, at least she figured that part of it all out. Drew knew May struggled with some self doubt, but there was some tangible proof that she was slowly but surely improving in some areas of the world of coordinating. There was just an extreme emphasis on the _slow_ part, and Drew chuckled to himself at the thought.

"And believe me, I know what I'm talking about; I learned that from experience," May threw in, a little smug.

That tone she used, it threw him off guard a little bit. He wasn't used to her being so cocky, and it didn't seem to fit her. May was acting like she was already a pro; like she was already on some mighty and high level so above this woman before her because she'd won one more ribbon than Savannah had, which when he analyzed it, she'd won out of luck.

Not to say he wasn't arrogant every now and then; he knew he was, but he also knew he had his trail and errors and he never once let that affect himself going into a contest. There were definitely times when he knew he was better than his competition, but he would never let that fact let him underestimate them. He'd learned that the hard way too many times; he knew it was the key to failure.

And there was a part of him that truly didn't want May to fail. He wanted to win the contest for sure, but losing wasn't always a failure. It was just a reason and an inspiration to work harder. A coordinator could never get too overconfident. It would be their downfall.

A frown was painted on his face and he had to close his eyes to tune out those around him. It was slightly aggravating to see her this way. She'd learn today.

Oh, she'd learn.

"I'm lucky to have your expert advice, May," the woman told her.

Now that made him laugh.

* * *

May performed before he did.

She was slated at number 12, and left the backstage area with an official when number 10 took center stage to compete. He was all too aware of when she left the room, confident strut and all. As she walked past him, she huffed a little bit and stuck her nose up, as she didn't even spare him a glance. If Drew didn't know her better, he would have thought it rude. Again, arrogance didn't suit her at all, so he just smirked at her.

When she was out of sight, he immediately turned all his attention back to the screen. The girl who took the place of number 11 was being introduced, calling out a Spheal. It was a dull routine with a water gun while the Pokémon rolled around on the stage a bit. Drew didn't really understand just what they were trying to do, and the judges looked just as confused. She was kindly awarded a 16.1 for whatever effort she had displayed.

"And next up is contestant number 12, a two-time winner, May!" Vivian excitedly told the crowd.

The camera swept over May's hard-set face before doing a quick pan of the crowd. Down in the front row were her friends and brother, with a bunch of older women in absolutely ridiculous cheerleader outfits. Drew recognized them as the same mob that swamped him the day prior and he couldn't help but shiver at the memory of the unwanted attention.

Instantly, the camera cut back to May, reaching her arm back to summon her Beautifly. Drew hadn't seen the Pokémon perform in quite a while, and it was just as sparkly as ever. Capitalizing on that fact, May called out for a morning sun, making Beautifly's rainbow-colored wings all the more radiant as it flooded the arena with a serene golden light. A good start, Drew had to admit.

The whole backstage room could hear how the crowd roared for her and her Pokémon as she called for a silver wind follow up. Once her routine was finished, the camera showed the crowd, and focused in on the mothers in the front row performing some kind of cheer for May. It was the most attention she'd ever gotten in a contest before, and Drew could see from the grin on her face it was already going to her head.

May finished up by having Beautifly land on an outstretched arm above her head, showcasing her Pokémon's delicate side. She was smiling and waving with her free arm at the crowd, even throwing a wink paired with a thumb up at the camera before her.

The judges gave her a 26.6; a fair score definitely reflecting the good show she'd put on.

It was a good appeal round performance. Easily the best one Drew had ever seen come from her and the best he'd seen so far in the contest. She'd clearly been working closely with her Beautifly on that morning sun routine. If there was ever a Pokémon made for contests, it was definitely a Beautifly. Still, it wasn't the best he'd _ever_ seen. Just the best from her, and while he'd admit it was a good performance, he knew he would beat it with the things he had planned. A Sinnoh-like entrance in the Hoenn Region? Now that was top notch.

Several coordinators around were whispering about her performance overall, some praising while other criticizing. He noticed Savannah had turned away from the monitor to take a few deep breaths, clearly not having expected May to do as well as she had. And he idly wondered how this woman was going to do. Clearly she was talented if she already had a ribbon, but she was almost hyperventilating from the fact that she herself would have to go up soon. Drew quickly wondered if he should ask her if she was okay.

The man in a suit holding a clipboard who'd appeared to take May earlier approached her then, telling her she'd need to be getting to stage soon. Savannah seemed startled at the appearance of the contest official, and jumped a little when he spoke to her.

"Right, yes, of course!" she quickly filled in, blushing and embarrassed. "Sorry, so sorry! I'm on my way."

She shuffled quickly out of the room heading towards the main stage, keeping her eyes down and her fists balled at her side. In one hand, she had a Pokéball clenched so tightly, her knuckles were turning white. Drew wished her luck under his breath; she looked like she needed it.

When she was out of the doorway, Drew once again faced the TV screen, somewhat eager to see how this older coordinator would handle the appeal with her nerves so frayed.

Two performers went after May, both forgettable. One young kid used a Stantler's leer to make its eyes bigger. Boring, and definitely a few pegs down from the excitement May had created. The other novice presented a Wurmple who spread string shots all over the arena and cut them quickly with colorful poison stings. They'd earned a 16.5 and a 18.2, respectively.

"Now, please welcome a contestant from right here in Rubello Town; your very own Savannah!" Vivian called out to the audience.

May walked back into the room just in time to catch her friend's performance. She paid Drew no attention as she plopped back down onto the bench she was sitting at earlier.

There Savannah stood in the spotlight, upon the stage with her arms politely crossed in front of her and an anxious smile on her face as she nodded in greeting to the crowd. The audience responded by cheering for their home-grown competitor, and she just looked a bit out of place, like she was unsure when to start. Everyone waited; she didn't move.

It was after a few moments of stillness that Vivian went up to her, telling her it was time to start. Savannah jumped slightly, rapidly apologized and retrieved her Pokéball from her waist. The blush on her face was prominent as she took a few steps forward.

Some of the coordinators around him laughed a little at her shaky entrance, but Drew kept his eyes fixed on her in anticipation. He had no idea what to expect. It especially caught him off when all the nerves disappeared on her face, a steely focus overcoming her features. That shut some of the other competitors up as they too tuned into the screen.

He was not expecting a Flareon, nor was he expecting the fire spin–tackle combination to work out as well as it did. Watching that fire Pokémon hop through the hoops of fire it had created gracefully was pleasantly surprising. It only got better when then called for a swift and ember combination, the heat from the fire changing the color of the bright yellow stars to a fiery red. Two solid combinations for sure, and Drew knew without a doubt that she'd advance to the battle rounds. He couldn't wait to see her moves in a battle.

She was awarded a high score and she was back in the waiting room soon after. She ran straight for May, who shot up from her seat upon noticing her arrival. Drew watched the whole exchange.

"You did it!" May told her, grabbing her hands in her own. "I knew you were going to be awesome."

Savannah looked so relived when May told her those words, like she really took May for this high and mighty expert coordinator.

"Thank you, May," Savannah responded, blushing a bit. "Sounds like you had more faith in me than I had in myself. But it's been a while since my last contest and my attacks were still a little rusty…I'm still a long way away from your level, May."

It was getting harder not to burst out into laughter.

"Keep training and you'll get there!" May said. "Experience was what helped me win two ribbons in a row."

"So the second victory is the key?!" Savannah questioned, excited.

 _Don't say yes, don't say yes, don't say yes…and don't laugh. Arceus, do NOT laugh if she does._

"Yep!" May beamed. "Once you've got a couple of ribbons, winning is pretty easy!"

He couldn't hold it in after that; he tried his best, but that final comment from May forced a chuckle out of him. He was still struggling to hold it in May turned to face him, annoyance all over her face.

Was that really her thought process going into all of this? Did she really think the more ribbons you had, the more likely you were to win easily? Did her Pokémon's hard work mean nothing anymore? It was a horrible mindset for a coordinator to have, and Drew could hardly believe what he was hearing.

Suddenly it seemed like she'd barely grown since that day on the beach when he first met her.

"What; what's so funny, Drew?" she demanded.

He had no response for her. If it wasn't obvious, he wouldn't give her the answer.

"Nothing."

"Look, if you've got something to say to me, than why don't you just say it?" she pushed again, approaching him.

"I don't."

He was hoping she'd take a hint. He was hoping she'd see what he was laying out for her. And he was hoping she'd pick up on it quickly, because beating her in this contest was going to be just as easy as if had been in Slateport if she didn't, and the thought disappointed him.

She took his casual responses the wrong way, though.

"Well what do ya know?" she chided. "It looks like you're worried that _you_ can't beat _me_. With my third ribbon today, I might make it to the Grand Festival before you do."

Savannah watched the whole exchange from behind them, and she was a bit shocked by May's attitude. She had followed Drew's career with her girlfriends since day one, and she knew how talented he was. She also knew May was good, and getting better, but she didn't think she was near Drew's level of experience yet. So watching this girl she'd been taking advice from talking down to this expert coordinator scared her a little bit. This was a side of May Savannah hadn't realized was there.

Drew meanwhile, couldn't stand this conversation anymore. His turn was coming up, anyway. He rose up from his seat and kept his face forward. If she couldn't figure it out on her own, he'd help her in the best way that he could: he'd give her a few words of wisdom. Whether she chose to listen or not was her decision.

"I'm gonna give you just one little bit of advice," he warned her. "Forget what you've won, May, and concentrate on the future."

It was true; if Drew had May's mindset throughout all of his contests, he wouldn't have ever made it this far. All of his victories in the past didn't ever guarantee him a win; she'd seen him lose before, very well knowing he'd always had more ribbons than she did. How she could become so stuck up in such a short amount of time, he didn't understand. But he hoped like hell she'd get it through her head that was no way to be.

She didn't.

"And what's that supposed to mean?!" she shouted after him.

Drew just shook his head, and made his way past the approaching official to the stage.

Savannah, meanwhile, pursed her lips and watched him leave towards the main stage.

* * *

He wasn't used to going last in an appeal round.

Drew knew he wasn't the last person to register for this contest, but it was decided that he would close up the appeal round by the judges early on. He had the most ribbons of any of the competitors going into the contest and he knew that everyone competing knew that as they could all see the stat sheets backstage in the waiting room. Any coordinator who registered for contests had a page printed out of their coordinator history posted on a board along with everyone else.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Savannah's friends – and apparently some of his biggest fans – going crazy, waving and calling out to him. He couldn't completely understand what they were saying over the rest of the cheers, but he swore he heard a, "Drew we love you!" in there somewhere.

Backstage, May noticed that the whole room fell completely silent. She looked around at all the other coordinators who watching the screen wearily. Even Savannah was bouncing next to her with excitement.

Savannah looked down at May briefly and noticed her confusion.

"He's the reason the MFP come to these contests," she told her, turning her attention back to the monitor.

"Wow, he'd more popular than I realized…" May bit her lip a little, unable to turn away from his smirk on screen.

With the spotlight on him, and the crowd roaring with cameras flashing, he knew it was time. He ran his thumb over the top of Roselia's Pokéball, hoping it could somehow convey the message to her that he knew she'd do great. He always believed in her, and she knew that.

"Let's go, Roselia, petal dance," he called to her.

It was perfect. More perfect than he'd originally hoped for or when she'd been practicing with him. More petals than he'd ever seen in his life exploded out of his Pokéball, and he couldn't even spot his partner within the blizzard of pink and sparkles. There were thousands upon thousands of petals raging from somewhere, and only he knew where she was within the craziness, despite having no visual connection with her.

Just like they'd practiced, he'd been counting in his head. When he hit the ten-second mark, he snapped his fingers, signaling for her to stop. She did; Roselia appeared precisely center stage, gracefully posed as he taught her. And just like always when they performed together, Drew felt a rush of pride and emotion for his first Pokémon. She had always exceeded his expectations.

Drew let the viewers appreciate her for a few extra moments, because she had worked so hard on that opening and she deserved to be adored by the hundreds of people watching her.

The admiration kept up, even backstage, where all the contestants were watching, amazed. Some of them recognized the style Drew had chosen, commenting, "It's just like Sinnoh!" and "I didn't know we could use ball seals!" with others correcting that he hadn't used one.

Savannah was praising him highly, more than she had done for May, and it left a bitter taste in May's mouth.

"Drew is absolutely amazing, isn't he, May?!" Savannah cried.

May only grunted in response, a sour look on her face. Savannah looked down at her when she didn't hear a response and chose not to comment when she noticed that the young girl looked so displeased next to her.

After a few more seconds of deafening cheering, they both realized it wasn't going to stop. Drew saw Roselia nod slightly, signaling that she was ready to continue when he was. He laughed and pointed out to her.

"Alright, Roselia, let's follow up with magical leaf!" he shouted, hoping she could hear him over the roar of applause but knowing she knew what to do either way.

She did; with innumerable petals still spraying from the ceiling, Roselia shot off a magical leaf, creating a tornado of glowing leafs to clash against the pink petals. It gathered all of the remaining petals into a vortex of glowing light, and cleaned up the stage almost instantly like a vacuum.

Roselia kept it going, and somehow, the crowd only got louder, much to Drew's delight and May's malice.

* * *

It had been about 20 minutes since Drew had retaken his place backstage. He heard whispers about himself as he entered the room but chose to ignore them all.

He and Roselia took a seat at the bench he unofficially assigned as his own and just waited for the announcement of the next round, still high from his 29.7 score. He couldn't stop thanking her for a job well done and she was still too excited from her stellar performance.

Once they both finally calmed down, Drew held out her Pokéball and she nodded, bidding him good luck in the battle rounds. From then on he just sat there, catching a nervous whisper every now and then from some of his fellow coordinators.

"I hope I make it through…"

"Drew's definitely number one; there's not a chance I'll make it to the battle rounds with the score he earned."

"Sunflora, no matter what, you were so great today…"

Aside from the buzz of the nervous chatter, the locker room was pretty much silent; no commentary coming from May or her friend.

At one point he chanced a look over to them, and thanked Arceus they weren't looking back at him like some of the others were.

May had a somewhat angry look on her face as she looked up at the screen displaying the seal of the Pokémon Contest Committee. It was like she was angry it was taking the judges so long to deliberate with the scores, or maybe like she was nervous she might not have actually made it in with all of the other talent they'd seen that day.

Savannah was totally opposite. Her gazed was locked down at her feet. One of her hands was rested on her lap. The other was loosely gripping the ribbon she wore around her neck. She looked as hopelessly nervous as she had all day. It must have been awhile since she had been in the waiting room of her last contest; she didn't seem like a serious coordinator. More of a casual one.

"Time to announce the finalists from the primary round!" Vivain's voice suddenly boomed throughout the waiting room.

Every person in the room's head snapped up, fixated on the TV screen. Drew didn't bother to look; he knew he made it.

"The judges decisions are in and the four who go on will be… Drew, May, Sonny and Savannah! There they are!"

Moans of disappointment and a few sighs of relief filled the room, just as they always did in contests like this. Some of them began shuffling out of the room while others lingered.

Drew wasn't surprised by the results. He knew he, Savannah and May had the best performances of the morning and didn't doubt any of them. Still, he hoped May would tone herself down a bit now that she had battling to focus on. Also in the back of his mind, Drew was trying to remember Sonny's appeal. Who was he and what Pokémon did he use? But he couldn't process too much because of the shrieking going on up front.

"We made it!" May cheered. "Way to go, Savannah!"

"You too, May!" Savannah also sang. "I'm really happy for you!"

"Oh, I was never really too concerned about it…" May assured her.

Nope. Still stuck in her own head.

Drew had never seen May this overconfident before, despite the tough competition she was going to face in the battle rounds. Part of him hoped he would battle her, so he could show her just what he meant when he told her not to be stuck on her previous wins.

"Alright, everyone!" Vivian's voice took over the room again. "The computer will now select the pairings for the second round battles!"

Drew peaked over to the screen, interested in seeing whom he'd face off against. When he saw his face appear in the same bracket as the Sonny kid, he felt a little deflated. But what was more interesting was the fact that May was going to have to fight her friend, and they both seemed a little less than pleased about it.

"Oh, that's not fair…" Savannah had said.

Drew watched as they eyed each other a little bit hesitantly. There was no tension or animosity between them…only a strange form of sadness and regret. Neither of them wanted to walk away the winner, but one of them would have to.

That was why you never made friends in the contest circuit; only rivals.

* * *

May was nervous.

It was painfully obvious how nervous she was, and how reluctant she was to admit it.

When the official came back to clear out the waiting room for only those who had made it to the second round, May instantly called out her Bulbasaur as if to remind him that she was in fact a winner in the primaries and allowed to stay where she was.

Savannah stood up a little bit straighter, waved at him awkwardly and called out an impressive looking Lairon.

Drew opted to let Masqurain out of his Pokéball. He knew May already knew about his newest Pokémon, and he figured he'd get him ready for his debut contest battle.

"We're having a brief intermission for the judges, and then your battle will get started," the man read to Drew from his clipboard.

Drew nodded and thanked him, telling him he'd be ready.

He got to work polishing off Masqurain's wings and giving him a few Pokéblocks. Minutes later, May's party and a young girl walked in through the door, congratulating their friends on making it through the first round. The young girl ran up to Savannah, and Drew realized that must have been her daughter.

He wasn't paying attention to the scene until May started yelling. Drew looked up and watched May shouting at her friend Ash, which was amusing in itself. It looked like her companions weren't used to this aggressively assertive May, either. He wasn't really focused on what they were saying – something about gym battles and contest battles – but he was shaking his head at May, who suddenly stormed off.

It was then that May's older friend Brock turned to look at him, hoping for some answers to May's sudden change in mood/behavior.

All Drew could do was shrug.

* * *

Drew expected more from his first battle, honestly.

When Sonny called out a Girafarig, Drew was excited. The prospect of pitting his Masqurain against a normal psychic type seemed like it would prove to be a challenge. He had never battled a Girafarig before, and had no idea what move set to expect.

When Sonny called for an opening iron tail attack, Drew felt himself almost stifle a yawn.

"Dodge and use bubble!" Drew ordered quickly.

Masqurain swooped up high into the air, easily evading the attack, and then launched off a set of bubbles towards the ceiling, confusing his opponent and the crowd. Good, he wanted to try out this surprise combination in a battle.

Sonney eyed him carefully from the other side of the field, and Drew only smirked in return.

"Now, use ice beam!" he ordered.

Masqurain froze the bubbles in mid air, just as they'd practiced throughout the week.

"Now hidden power, go!"

White orbs of powerful light shot out towards the bubbles at high speed. They bounced off the frozen spheres ringing with each hit, creating an ominous high-pitched sound before they plummeted towards Girafarig, hitting their marks. Girafarig cried out in pain from the direct hit, and the audience was enraptured by the stunningly powerful triple combination Drew and Masqurain had just pulled off.

Sonny was the most shocked as his Pokémon fell down, one hit enough to knock it out.

The judges displayed X's on their score panels, thus ending the match instantly. It took less than a minute for Masqurain to get the job done, and Drew was ecstatic at how well his newest Pokémon had performed in itself first contest showcase.

"And so with a dazzling display of strength and beauty, Drew advances to the final stage!" Vivian announced.

The other coordinator called his Pokémon back as Drew did for Masqurain, and the two met at the middle ground.

"That's some Masqurain you got there, buddy," Sonny told him with a firm handshake. "You've got this contest wrapped up for sure!"

"Thank you," Drew said.

With that, Drew headed off to the locker room to wait for his next battle. When he past May in the hall, and when she and her Bulbasaur looked straight at him, he paused briefly.

"Well, good luck," he said.

"I don't need any luck from you, Drew," she retorted.

Drew looked down at her Bulbasaur, who seemed more and more confused as to where they were going.

"I think you will," he said.

* * *

"I'm counting on you, Lairon!"

"Bulbasaur, let's go!"

Both Pokémon appeared on stage, but something seemed off.

Drew inched closer to the monitor as he observed May's Bulbasaur closely. The camera zoomed in on the tiny grass type, and it honestly looked…frightened. He almost felt bad for May's Pokémon as it looked all over the field, looking horrified from the overwhelming amount of spectators watching it. Had May not warned and/or exposed her Pokémon to a contest hall?

The tiny Pokémon suddenly darted back to its trainer, hiding behind May's leg. It was petrified, completely unfamiliar with being on stage and it was very clear her Pokémon suffered from initial stage fright.

Drew felt bad, not for May, because this is what she deserved for her cockiness, but for her Pokémon, who was practically trembling and had no choice but to fight. May only had the option to forfeit, not switch out her Pokémon, and with the way she had acted all day, there was no way she was going to back down.

But putting her own interests in front of the interest of her Pokémon? That wasn't okay.

Drew watched as the scene only got worse.

May kneeled down next to her Pokémon, clearly chastising it. The camera couldn't pick up what May was saying, but Drew could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't giving it an easy time. After a few moments, the poor Pokémon forced itself to walk out in front of May, barely composed and pretending like it was ready for whatever this fight was going to be.

Savannah took the first queue. She called for a take down attack from her Lairon, who responded all too eagerly to get the battle started. It charged straight for Bulbasaur, but take down was generally an easy dodge. Only, when May called for her Pokémon to move, it stood there, all too frozen. It was a direct hit, and Lairon did a nice little flip at the end of its attack before landing, adding some extra style. May's points suffered.

May's Bulbsaur seemed stunned for a moment, and May desperately called for it to get up. It was a struggle at first, but the tiny Pokémon pushed itself up and took on a whole new expression; one of understanding and readiness. It was like it understood this was a battle, and it knew it had to do better.

A vine whip shot out of Bulbasaur's back at May's call, and Savannah told Lairon to take the hit, surprising even Drew. He watched pensively trying to figure out what angle she was going for with taking a loss of points like that. It became all too clear when Savannah revealed that her Lairon knew shockwave, a brutal attack that only worked when two Pokémon were directly connected. Bulbasaur's vine whip provided Savannah with the perfect opportunity, and she seized it. And while Bulbasaur, as a grass type, wouldn't take too much damage from an electric attack, that wasn't what shockwave did. It was a stun attack, but it was known to paralyze an opponent when there was a physical contact, and it did its job.

Everyone watched as Bulbasaur was shot back towards May, weak, hurt and unable to fully recover, though it refused to give up. It forced itself up, and whether it was out of dedication to its trainer or fear, Drew couldn't guess. He only knew that there wasn't much left May could do, and he'd definitely be going up against that Lairon in the final battle. So he observed any and every one of Savannah's moves.

A direct hit from a metal claw was all it took to finish off Bulbasaur, and the judges gave their X marks. May was defeated, as Bulbasaur was unable to battle. She looked stunned, like she refused to believe that was the case. She was crouched down next to her Pokémon when Vivian announced that the battle was officially over.

"Hey wait, I'm not done fighting!" May declared, shocking almost everyone in the building.

Even Drew blinked a few times up at the screen, appalled. Her Pokémon was hurt. Bulbasaur had taken three direct hits from a Pokémon clearly more powerful than it was, and May was still trying to push it back into battle.

The only person to say anything was a very upset judge Nurse Joy.

"Yes you are!" she practically screamed back, shocking May. "Where's your concern for your Pokémon's health, May?!"

"That is a coordinator's number one priority, not winning" Mr. Contesta agreed, clearly annoyed that he even had to explain this to her.

"By now you should know that," Mr. Sukizo added.

The whole stadium was silent. Drew watched the screen as May looked down at her Pokémon before her, tears threatening to spill from her eyes and trembling slightly. She scoped up her tired Pokémon in her arms, nodded to Savannah, apologized to the judges and walked off stage without another word.

There was no handshake, no show of good sportsmanship between the winner and the loser; only a girl ashamed of herself and leaving without anyone stopping her.

Drew turned and poked his head out the door of the locker room as she walked by without going in to retrieve her stuff. By then she had started crying, tears falling from her cheeks and a few deep breaths trying to compose herself. He opened his mouth, not to insult her or belittle her, but simply to tell her she should have listened, or maybe to ask if Bulbasaur was okay. He didn't know what was going to come out, but he never got the chance to say anything.

"Please don't talk to me," she choked out as she passed him.

When she kept going without bothering to stop, he nodded, and turned to walk back into the waiting room, waiting to be called to the stage for his battle.

In that moment, the image of May crying was forever engrained into his brain.

But he pushed the thoughts down, because he had a contest to win before he could focus on anything else.

* * *

He looked for her in the audience.

When he first got back out on stage, he found his eyes searching for her in the hundreds of faces in the audience. He even focused in on her friends and the group of fan girls in the front row, but she was nowhere among them. He idly noticed that Ash was missing, but he chose not to care.

He knew she wasn't backstage. She'd never come back while he was in there, and he doubted she went back in after that, either.

This was not how this contest was supposed to happen. She was supposed to see him win. She wasn't supposed to snap and run away like she had. He had wanted her to watch him accept a ribbon after having fought so hard for it herself. But she would have fallen short to him again, and he would have been deemed the winner.

Now here he stood, trying to pick her out in a sea of nameless faces, and figuring out she wasn't one of them. And it bothered him for some reason.

His attention snapped back in front of him when Vivian announced the battle between himself and the Rubello Town native.

He quickly called out his Masqurain, while her Lairon was still out not having been returned since its first battle.

When the buzzer went off signaling the timer had started, Savannah made the first move, calling for a metal claw. Drew knew he had an in-air advantage, as the Lairon wouldn't be able to get off the ground. Dodging was easy enough, as was getting hits.

Throughout the battle, Masqurain held the lead. Savannah wasn't bleeding points, but she hadn't taken any of Drew's by the time they'd hit the three-minute mark, and Drew didn't think she could. It wasn't until Drew ordered a close range-hidden power that Savannah capitalized on it, calling for a metal sound and take down combination. When the screech hit Masqurain, it stunned it temporarily and allowed for the hit, costing Drew a decent chunk of his score.

He decided to play it safe for the rest of the match, calling for attacks to hit from high in the air and not letting Savannah get a chance again.

During the entire match, Drew hadn't once called out for his Masqurain to use silver wind. He didn't want to use it if May wasn't watching.

"Lairon, metal claw!" Savannah called when she thought Masqurain was low enough.

Drew didn't allow it.

"Use hidden power again!"

The orbs of light hit Lairon directly, draining more of Savannah's points. She was now at a critical level; if she took another hit, she'd lose for sure.

And she got desperate; she called for a shockwave attack, which Drew didn't even have to worry about dodging, because the clock ran out on her. Drew was declared the winner of the contest.

Masqurain landed on his shoulder and he whispered praises to it for a great fought battle while the crowd roared in approval. There was only one thing left to do.

Drew approached Savannah as she patted her Lairon and told him she was proud of him. She looked up at him a bit surprised to see him. Drew only smiled down at her. He wouldn't ever miss the chance to acknowledge a great battle when he could.

"Savannah," he spoke. "That was a great battle."

He extended his hand out to her, and it took her a second to process his words. When she did, a smile spread across her face, and she took his hand in her own and shook it.

"You're very sweet, Drew!" she told him.

He nodded and told her how much he admired her Lairon, thanked her for the fun battle and praised her for her combinations, all to which she blushed furiously.

Moments later, Vivian called for the presentation of the winner's ribbon, and Drew was brought to center stage to face Mr. Contesta. Previous competitors and a few audience members joined him on stage as he was given a ribbon for himself and one to place on Masqurain.

Vivian always made a big deal of the winners, noting their previous accomplishments and how they were doing in the season. He was especially glad when she had pointed out he was one ribbon away from the Grand Festival, because at some point, he'd noticed May had appeared on stage to watch him accept the prize.

But still, he didn't feel like he hoped he would. He was beyond thrilled to be only one ribbon away from the Grand Festival, but it just…it was wrong. Something was wrong, and he had no idea what it was.

Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't gotten to show May his silver wind.

* * *

He didn't see May or her friends again.

They'd ditched the hall after everything and left, May and Savannah already having retrieved their things from the locker room.

The room was empty and private as Drew re-entered, releasing his Roselia to show her the ribbon she'd helped him win. She smiled in approval, and spoke up to Masqurain, no doubt congratulating him on a job well done as well.

His back was to his Pokémon as he opened the door on his locker, grabbing his ribbon case and placing the ribbon into the fourth slot. Once he pocketed that, he checked his PokéNav for any new updates. There was only one; an unopened text message from Solidad.

He opened up the short message, which was only about two words long.

 _Turn around_.

Drew furrowed his brows in confusion before his Roselia chirped and skipped away from his side. He turned to face Solidad, leaning casually against the doorframe of the waiting room, smiling super big at him.

He smirked back, excited to see her face to face for the first time in a while.

"Four down, one to go," she spoke. "So, coffee expert, where are we going?"


	8. Cortado

**Chapter Eight: Cortado–** In which Solidad comes to visit, more coffee is had and Drew gets a new perspective.

 **Author's Notes:  
** \- Hoping to be on a more stable update schedule soon. Thanks for sticking with me!  
\- Warning: Sherlock is back on right now, and I am a HUGE Sherlock fan. So…I might disappear for a bit longer just because I'm getting my fill of Sherlock while I can. Seriously, we as a fandom wait entirely too long for three episodes…and I'm hoping this series won't be the last. (Also, to answer anyone's questions, I'm team Sherlolly.)  
\- Does anybody ready these little notes I leave here? Are these relevant? I mean I'm gonna keep writing them regardless of the answer but it'd be cool to know.  
\- Cortado: espresso coffee mixed with a roughly tiny (on average, one tablespoon) amount of warm milk.  
\- There will be one additional note at the end.

* * *

He was elated to have her in Hoenn; it had been far too long since Drew got to spend some time with Solidad in person.

They kept up with each other so regularly through texts, calls and even watching each other compete, that they didn't need to waste time filling each other in on mundane details about what had been going on in their lives as of late. Drew was going for the Hoenn Ribbon Cup, Solidad was getting back into training to prepare for the next season in Kanto's contest circuit. That was that.

He'd thought about competing in Kanto after the Hoenn season. Their season started just after Hoenn's ended. It would mean only having a few weeks' grace period in between the Grand Festival and the start on an entire new round of contests, but Drew lived for this. He could absolutely see himself doing that, but he'd have to talk to his Pokémon about it first. He'd see if they were up for it before he made any kind of decision; it was only fair to them.

He was surprised to see her, having been given no warning of her coming presence. But still, he was happy to have her there with him, nonetheless.

They'd settled in and placed their orders at quaint little café Drew had recommended. It was right on the outskirts of the city, so it was never overly crowded, but always did well enough to make money and stay in business. They opted to sit outside to enjoy the sunshine for however long it would stay in the sky as the day was ticking away.

"So how long have you been in Hoenn?" Drew asked her.

"Only about 14 hours," Solidad shrugged and relaxed into her seat. "Pidgeot and I flew here late last night. Bit of an adrenaline thing, really."

"Do explain," Drew prodded, interested.

"We'd been working on his feather dance for a few weeks now," Solidad responded. "It just wasn't happening the way we both wanted it to. But after weeks, all of that hard work came to fruition. He nailed it, he really did. I can't wait for you to see us debut it in an appeal. But yeah, like I was saying…

"It'd been a lot of grinding and timing training to get it done, and when it finally all paid off, we were both a little hyper and too excited," Solidad laughed a little at this. "I was thinking about you and how you had the contest today, and about how I haven't been to one of your performances, or in Hoenn at all, for over a year. So then I looked at the clock and it was only 6:50, and I just looked at Pidgeot and said, 'wanna go watch Drew compete tomorrow?' Next thing I knew, we were flying up here, both just so pumped up. I'm really glad we did; you were spectacular today."

"Thank you," Drew beamed, proud of himself and his Pokémon. "Roselia did really well in her appeal, and Masquerain outdid himself in his debut, if I do say so myself. It's all got me so ready to get to the Grand Festival. Where is Pidgeot now? And the rest of your Pokémon?"

"They're all getting some rest at the Pokémon Center," Solidad sipped her iced tea. "They've all been giving it 100 percent to get ready for next season, even though we've still got quite some time to go before then. But I thought a little vacation would do them some good."

It was then that a barista brought their drinks out to them. When the barista turned around quickly to address the other table outside where people were sitting, Solidad leaned forward and reached for the packets of sweeteners and mix-ins in the little glass bowl on their table. She'd grabbed nearly all of the white packets there were. Then, Drew watched in disgusted horror as she poured sugar packet after sugar packer into her cup, mixing it all in. She took small sips after each packet was added, judging if it was drinkable. The ripped packets and stray sugar crystals littered the table as the process continued. Drew stopped counting after the fourth one.

"You don't need to look like you're offended because I'm putting more sugar in my drink than you do," Solidad remarked without looking up at him. "I don't ever get offended by your lack of a soul or whatever."

"You might as well be drinking sugar with a shot of coffee mixed in," Drew said, taking a small sip of his own drink. "Seriously, it's a crime, what you're doing to that poor beverage, and how do you not have diabetes by now?"

"How are we even still friends?" Solidad laughed, discarding her seventh sweetener packet and finally deeming the coffee acceptable.

"Sometimes I wonder," Drew rolled his eyes but chuckled as well.

"Is there anything else I can get for you guys?" the young boy returned to them, his tray tucked beneath his arm as he swept Solidad's pile of packets up to clear the table.

"No, no, we're alright," she spoke, Drew nodding.

Solidad then thanked the boy politely and gave him a tip. He nodded, thanked them in return and told them to call if they needed anything else before returning into the shop.

When he was gone, Drew picked up the conversation.

"You said a vacation?" Drew questioned, stirring his drink a little.

"That's right," Solidad grinned. "Like I said, my Pokémon deserve a break for all their efforts."

"So how long are you staying in Hoenn?" he continued.

"Details, details…" Solidad waved her hand dismissively. "I want to talk about some of those Pokémon we saw today."

The prospect of discussing a contest, Drew's interest shifted almost instantly like Solidad knew it would. She didn't want to ruin the surprise she had for him; not yet, anyway. The perfect distraction? Contests. Drew had just earned his fourth ribbon. He had one more to go before the Grand Festival, but she didn't doubt he'd have his final qualification for entry within the next two weeks.

"How did you feel about that Flaffy's thunderbolt technique in the appeals?" she began, easing into the discussion.

Drew went off excitedly about the appeals he'd seen in this contest. As it had been a class R1 showcase, the appeals were much stronger and much more refined than earlier contests in the season, but that was how contest seasons worked. Solidad knew this. The early competitions saw everything from first-timers to professionals. By this point in the season, the newcomers who hadn't won earlier on in the season were starting to disappear, preparing for the next season as the number of contests they were allowed to compete in without ribbons diminished rapidly.

He noted more than a few Pokémon that had caught his interest in the contest. He spent more than a few minutes picking apart their various routines and explaining what he would have done differently or how he hated the entire thing and would have come up with the same combinations but different approaches. And throughout the whole thing, he held an excitement in his eyes, because they both knew the biggest contest of them all was coming, and he was only one victory away from it.

Contests and competing were who Drew was; Solidad knew this. She'd known since the day she met him. And she was happy he had found and pursued his passion so early on in his life. She didn't know much about Drew's childhood, but she could deduce that it wasn't the happiest experience. And with an absence of constant happiness in his younger days, Solidad was glad he'd found a source of contentment he could love so easily, and friendships with his Pokémon to make sure he was never lonely.

But at the same time, Solidad wanted more for Drew. Of course she wanted to see him succeed; to make it to the top and achieve his dreams of becoming a Top Coordinator. But once he'd done that, then what? Drew was talented; there was no denying that. And she knew because of that talent, he'd become a Top Coordinator early on in his life. An admirable achievement, sure…but at the same time, it left something to be desired. What did he have to look forward to when it all came to fruition?

Sure, he could go on, and try to become a Top Coordinator in all the contest regions: Hoenn, Kanto, Jhoto and Sinnoh. That in itself would give him the true ultimate title in coordinating, Master Coordinator. She was certain he'd go on to try for it, and of course win it after a few years. He had the passion and drive for sure.

Yes, Drew had a bright future ahead of him. She could already tell from the first time she'd ever faced him in a contest battle, her face emerging on the victory board and his, looking down at the ground unable to hold back tears that, this boy would become one of the greatest coordinators in the world.

But he would be alone; that was what worried her.

She would always find a little brother in Drew. She would always be friends with him and stick by his side no mater what, but she couldn't be the only one. Drew needed more people in his life, and she could see that. He was so stuck in his goal, so absorbed in his mission that he never made time for other people to come into his life. And once he'd accomplished everything he'd set out to accomplish, what would he have then? She dreaded the thought.

She'd come to all of these conclusions last season, when they'd met and he told her he wasn't going to enter the Grand Festival. Drew had given her all of his reasons and they made sense; she even agreed with him on a few points he'd made. But she remembered how he told her how great he wanted to be. How perfect was the only standard he could hold himself to when he went for the Ribbon Cup.

With all of Drew's focus in life on contests, what was to happen when there were no more contests?

She'd thought about it a lot more than she cared to admit, and it was starting to become a more consistent train of thought. The thoughts kept her up at night some times. She'd momentarily pause in random training sessions thinking about it. She loved Drew so much, and couldn't stand the thought of him having everything he ever wanted, and then realizing he had nothing at the same time. She thought about it more and more, especially as of late.

Even now, as she sat here and listened to him excitedly go on and on about the appeal one girl had pulled off with her Oddish, and how it was far too unsynchronized and poorly planned and how Arceus only knows she'd won a ribbon before and gotten into a R1 contest, she felt those fears for him.

But she didn't let it show; she _never_ let it show.

Out of all of the things she knew about Drew, she knew that above all, he hated talking about himself. It was not that he wasn't quick to praise his Pokémon when they deserved it, because he always was. He loved his Pokémon beyond measure, but that wasn't the problem. He didn't like discussing personal issues with anyone. Not even Solidad, despite how close they were.

Solidad guessed it was partially because he didn't like talking about that kind of stuff, but mostly because he didn't even realize it was all there.

Just like he didn't realize how important May had become to him in his contest career, and in his life.

Solidad saw it, from the way he first talked about her. From the way he remembered her name. From the way he caught an entirely new Pokémon just to pull off a move better than she could. From the way he studied her, and the way he had failed to notice he was blushing sometimes when they spoke about her in their discussions.

Yet, Solidad noticed that in this particular conversation, she had yet to come up…at all.

"Seriously, though, I was impressed–" Drew had continued speaking. "With that swift and ember combination. I never, _ever_ , thought of changing colors on a swift attack. I'm almost offended I didn't. I seriously need to start working on something like that. I was sort of relieved I didn't have to face that Flareon in the battle rounds. I don't have any Pokémon that know any fire-type attacks. I can't wait to teach my Flygon some."

He finished speaking and took a sip from his cup, looking at her expectantly. Solidad blinked a few times, coming out of her thought process. He was waiting for a response. Unfortunately, Solidad had only caught the last three sentences. Something about fire and his Flygon…

 _Wait. He didn't have a Flygon yet…did he?_

"Vibrava evolved?" she saved herself after only three awkward seconds of silence.

Drew arched an eyebrow. He'd done some real in-depth analysis of some of those appeals, and it was like she'd zoned out. It was weird, but he chose to ignore it if he could.

"Well, not yet," Drew admitted. "But I feel like he's getting close. He'll make an excellent Grand Festival debut, I'm sure."

"Yeah, yeah, no doubt," Solidad said, seeming a little distant.

"Are you alright, Solidad?" Drew asked, confused.

She was sitting right in front of him. She looked perfectly healthy. She had that ever-present soft smile on her face as she listened to him talk, occasionally humming in agreement or shaking her head. But her eyes; her eyes told that her thoughts were miles away, focused on something else…

Before he could press it further, she took a large swallow of her drink, looked him dead in the eyes and blurted out a, "what about May's appeal?"

She watched for his reaction. She wanted to see what he would do.

It caught him off guard for sure. He watched her, a little guarded, as she launched into her own analysis. Her eyes lit up at this; how he instantly changed demeanor the second May finally came up in the conversation. This girl really did have an impact on him.

"It was nice to finally see this famous silver wind I've heard so much about," Solidad relaxed into her speech; talking about contests was anything but foreign to her. "I mean, really, it was as beautiful as I'd imagined it to be from your descriptions. Really, televisions don't do the natural glow of it true justice. I can see why it interested you so much."

"Solidad–"

"I think that opening with morning sun was brilliant, though," she continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Really, really gorgeous move. I couldn't believe how much it made her Pokémon sparkle. Did you see the color of its wings? Incredible."

"Solidad–"

"But the real kicker was how she kept both moves going at once," she pushed on, because if he wasn't going to bring her up, she sure was. "I can tell silver wind on its own it phenomenal, but the way that morning sun just made it shine all the harder…wow. I can see why you wanted a Pokémon who could pull it off now, really."

" _Solidad_."

Her eyebrows raised on their own accord as he called her name in _that_ tone. It was a tone that said, "stop" with finality while holding a bit of hesitation in it at the same time. Clearly he hadn't wanted to talk about May at all for some reason that day, which was odd to her.

"Problem?" she asked. "You don't agree?"

"No, I mean, I don't know–I mean, her appeal was–Yeah, but did you…" he paused repeatedly, trying to figure out what he wanted to say.

A quiet settled over them as he tried to put his feelings on May's performance that day into an accurate train of thought. He kept his eyes down on his cup on the table, chewing his lip. Solidad waited, watching the traces of confusion and with a twinge of unsure plat in his eyes.

She knew why it was hard. She'd been there; she'd seen it all. But she was very interested to see how he took it.

"I'll admit she definitely had the best appeal round she's had so far," Drew lamented, and then paused again.

He stayed quiet for another minute or so, looking intently at his Cortado and not moving. Solidad didn't know if he was waiting for her input or not right then and there, so she stayed quiet and simply nodded just incase. If he wanted her comments at that moment, he'd definitely ask for them. But she knew there was a reason Drew had completely left May out of the conversation.

She just hoped he could see the light so she wouldn't have to explain it, because Drew was hard to get to with talks like these.

"But…that doesn't make up for the rest of her performance."

Boom. There it was.

Solidad knew she was going to have some work to do, because he clearly didn't get it. But she figured she might as well let him vent it all out before she tried to explain her perspective. That way she could tackle all of his points after he'd made them.

"What, you don't agree?" Drew questioned in her silence. "C'mon, Solidad. There's no way you can't say May was out of line and didn't deserve to lose today."

"You're putting words in my mouth, actually," Solidad informed him. "I didn't say anything at all."

"But seriously?" he continued. "How can you not? She was the worst she's ever been, hands down. Even you can see that; you're just too nice to say otherwise."

"I have my criticisms and praises just as you do," she replied. "I won't say she deserved to win, because you're right. Today, you were the better performer. But I will also say I think you're being a little harsh here."

"How so?" he challenged, one eyebrow quirked.

"Tell me how you felt about it, and I'll tell you how I felt."

Drew stopped to ponder this for a moment. There were two things Drew had never beaten Solidad in. One of them was a contest. But in truth, they'd never faced off in a competition after that first day. So was that really valid in this moment? He wasn't sure.

The second was an argument. Solidad knew how to combat things in every single way. She was strategic and calculated when it came to this type of thing. She analyzed every angle presented to her and fought for her side effectively. If she weren't so well suited for coordinating, she'd have made a damn brilliant lawyer.

But there was no way Drew could lose this time. He knew Solidad saw exactly what he had seen: a stuck up girl thinking so highly of herself, that she deserved to win based on her previous victories alone. No skill or Pokémon required. She completely embarrassed herself (which she deserved) and her Pokémon (who didn't deserve it). That was the biggest crime of all.

Or maybe the biggest crime was the possibility that even after all of that mortification, she would still enter contests.

"I don't even understand why I have to explain this to you," he began, a little frustrated as the unpleasant events of the contest flashed back in his memory. "She was completely out of her mind. How dare she call herself a coordinator.

"You want me to compliment her? Fine, I will. Her appeal was good, but you know what? Her Beautifly has always been good. Even in that first contest where she couldn't exactly hit her stride, her Beautifly did the best it could with the lousy trainer it had, as it has always done. But she's been in a few contests now and she knows how this works, so yeah; her appeal was more refined than it had been ever before. Even I can't deny that.

"Everything else afterwards? Horrendous. Oh my Mew, Solidad; if only you could have heard her in the locker room in between rounds. You remember that lady I faced off against in the final match? The one who beat her in the battles?"

Solidad nodded.

"That was Savannah–really nice lady; won a contest last year but didn't have much experience otherwise and the woman was a nervous wreck almost all day," Drew commented, and continued. "Anyway, she was back there coaching Savannah, giving her the _worst_ advice. Things like 'once you win more than once, it's all easy' and 'I've got the experience to know that I'll win this.' It was painful to listen to at some moments, honestly. And I warned her; Solidad, _I warned her_.

"I straight up told her the way she was acting would get her nowhere. Do you know what she did? She fought me on that, too. And then, when her friends came back stage to congratulate her, one of them tried to give Savannah some advice on battling, and May straight up told off her friends as well. Do you realize she told off her younger brother?

"I feel like I don't have to remind you what happened when she went into the battle round against Savannah, but for good measure, let's review that, too. She completely disregarded the well being of her Pokémon. She pushed her Bulbasaur into a situation it had no desire to be in and wasn't ready for. But she forced it out on that stage, because she felt like she had to prove to me and everybody else that she was as good as she thought she was. All that resulted in was her poor Bulbasaur being beaten. Badly.

"The worst part? Well, you saw it happen. We all did. Even after her Bulbasaur was down and definitely out, she kept screaming, telling everyone she wasn't finished. You know what? She was finished before she even took the stage. Her Pokémon suffered because she couldn't keep it together. Even the judges had to yell to get some sense into her. Honestly, it went farther than it should have."

Solidad watched him throughout his entire speech. The way his eyes blazed with something she couldn't quite name. Was it shame? Was it anger? She couldn't tell. She just knew she didn't like the way he hadn't said May's name once throughout his entire speech, like he just couldn't bring himself to do so.

"She needs to give this up if that's really the way she is," Drew threw out as an after thought.

Internally, Solidad cringed at his statement. He really didn't see how much he needed this girl.

"Alright, alright," Solidad finally said. "I think that's a bit over the top."

"You can't be serious," Drew leaned forward, frowning. "How can you not agree with me?"

"Well, I do agree with you on a few points," Solidad said. "Like for one, she definitely lost her composure today, that's for sure. And her poor Bulbasaur did…go through a lot."

"As the daughter of a gym leader, she should know how to take care of her own Pokémon," Drew added. "Not even as a coordinator; she should have known that a Pokémon's well being is far more important than winning. It's why I didn't enter Roselia back in Verdanturf Town."

That surprised Solidad. She had no idea May came from a family with a Pokémon gym background. In the back of her mind, Solidad wondered how May ended up in contests.

"Wait, how do you know she's a gym leader's daughter?" she asked. "Did she tell you that?"

"No," Drew admitted, his face getting a little pink to Solidad's intrigue. "I heard a group of fan girls point it out. They asked her if she was, 'Norman's daughter' and when I looked it up, I found out. Norman from Petalburg City, the normal-type gym here in Hoenn."

Solidad mentally noted to look into it all later, because she was interested to know where May came from as well, but what really stuck out to her in Drew's admission was the number one thing she needed to present her case and defend May's behavior.

"You said a group of fan girls?" she clarified.

"Huh? Oh yeah, there was this group of older women. I'm sure you saw them at the contest; they were really…loud. They were all dressed in cheerleader outfits. It was Savannah's little contest fan club group. They fussed over me a few times as well."

"And they fussed over May, correct?"

"Well, yeah…" Drew rolled his eyes. "They swarmed her once they realized who she was. Then they stuck with her and Savannah the whole time. I avoided them."

"Well, there's your answer, Drew."

Drew tilted his head a bit as he looked back at Solidad, clearly more confused now.

"My answer to what, exactly?" he tested her, unsure of where she was going.

"Why May acted the way she did today, of course," he responded, taking another sip from her overly sweetened drink.

When Drew didn't respond, Solidad changed positions in her seat to get a little more comfortable. She faced him full on, propping her elbows on the table and looking him straight in the eyes.

"So tell me, when have you ever seen May get any attention like that, ever?" she started.

"I haven't," he answered instantly, set on staying in control of the argument. "She's a new coordinator; barely anyone knows her."

"Mhmm," Solidad smiled a little, making Drew nervous. "And as someone from a somewhat-known family, how do you think she feels to finally have some recognition away from the trainer side of things and to be recognized as a coordinator?"

"That was her choice to become a coordinator?" he tried again, feeling like he was losing his footing.

"Okay," she continued. "Take those two things, and put it on top of the fact that at every contest you've ever competed in, there was a somewhat arrogant coordinator the same age as you telling you that they were better and that you had no chance, even when you've actually won a few times on your own?"

"I–I'm not arrogant," Drew combatted.

Solidad rolled her eyes, and he fell back in his chair just a bit.

"I said somewhat, because you can be," Solidad admitted. "You are a good coordinator, Drew. You know you are, because you've always been good at this. Since day one, you've been a successful coordinator. You had a near-perfect performance in the very first contest you ever entered. You've always had fans. She didn't have the best display at her first show, and hardly anyone, yourself included, took her seriously.

"On top of that, she comes from a family with an extensive Pokémon experience background. Her dad's a gym leader, right? She was probably always expected to become a trainer or take over the gym from early on, and she chose something entirely different. Now, I don't know her situation at home, and I doubt that you do, either, but wouldn't you say that, even if she has the support from her family, there probably were some people who were disappointed in her choice to not pursue that path?

"So now, she's starting out with a self-doubt problem. She feels like she has to prove to others and herself that she can be a good coordinator. Take that, and pair it with a grass-headed coordinator – who's been to literally every contest she's been in so far – who's been telling her that he's better, has much more experience and has tons of fans constantly rooting for him all the time, where as she's always only had her friends.

"And then came today's contest, when she actually had some serious support. She had two ribbons to show for all her struggles in the past, and she was feeling good about those. She finally had a fan club that wasn't just her friends who were screaming her praises to her. And for once, she finally got to be the more experienced coordinator, who got to talk down to someone with less experience than her.

"She's still new at this, Drew. May is still learning all of these things, because she's just starting out. And just because you already learned all of these things and she hasn't yet doesn't make it okay to judge her so harshly for it. Everyone gets a little cocky every now and then. Now she's learned what can happen if she's too cocky and I doubt she'll let that happen again."

His lips were pursed as he continued to stare at the table. Even after she finished talking, he seemed to be weighing her words.

"Still doesn't excuse the way she treated her Bulbasaur," Drew muttered, and Solidad could see it was a last defense.

"No, it doesn't," Solidad actually agreed with him, and there was a spark of hope in his eyes. "But like I said, she was finally getting some notoriety for something she's still so unused to. And to have lost to someone who had even less experience than her? She probably felt worse than horrible. She was in the moment, and she got overemotional. It happens to all of us, maybe not in that particular setting or moment, but when people feel things that strongly, it's hard to truly ignore them."

In a lot of ways, Drew knew Solidad was right. From the times he'd spent observing her, May had proved on more than one occasion to be an emotive person.

"My point is that you've always known you were good at this," Solidad went on. "You've had a lot people telling you how great you were since day one. May finally had that, and is it really so wrong that she wanted to enjoy it? She clearly didn't realize how bad she was acting at the time, but you know, by the end of it all when she got back on stage to watch you accept your ribbon, she seemed happy for you.

"This, of course, is all based on inferences, but Drew, I think you need to maybe look at all of this from her perspective. I don't think she's this bad person you seem to think she was today. I think she's just under a lot more pressure in these contests than you give her credit for."

This was why Drew had become so reliant on Solidad over the years; she had a great perception. She could see things in ways other people couldn't. She took things beyond face value. She saw the whole picture.

She'd changed Drew's mind on things more than a few times over the almost-two years they'd been friends, and he came to appreciate that a lot.

As much as he hated to admit it, Solidad had some fair points, and he could feel his anger at May's behavior slowly fading away.

From the second he'd found out May was the daughter of a gym leader, he expected her to be a natural battler automatically. When she didn't meet that expectation, and she let the pressure of it all go to her head, she messed up. She'd disappointed him, and he wondered just how many other people she might have disappointed as well.

It was a type of pressure he himself never had to feel. He was never coordinating to prove to anyone that he could do it, and that he could do it well. He was a coordinator because it was his passion in life.

And now, he could see he might have been too quick to judge; he might have been wrong.

"Yeah," Drew mumbled to himself. "Yeah."

Solidad smiled and sighed in relief. Drew couldn't understand why it mattered so much, but he didn't exactly want to keep the conversation going. She'd proved her point, and Drew accepted that. Still, the longer he had to acknowledge the fact that he'd jumped the gun was annoying. Drew hated being wrong.

Seeing the discomfort on his face but knowing he at least understood, Solidad changed the subject. She didn't want him in a bad mood, and she figured now was as good a time as any to reveal her surprise.

"Alright, alright, enough with the heavy," she said. "Ribbon number four; where are _we_ going to pick up the fifth?"

Just as she knew he would, he caught her underlying meaning. Instantly.

"We?" he asked looking back up to her, a little dumbfounded.

"Well, I was thinking I'd tag along for a bit with you," she grinned. "I mean, I planned on staying in Hoenn for a little while. Might as well watch you get that final ribbon, right?"

Drew finally relaxed for the first time in a while. He shifted back into his chair easily, flicked his hair and smirked.

"I hope you didn't expect to stay long, then," he told her. "I want to start training for the Grand Festival right away."

"I knew you would," she laughed lightly, reaching for her PokéNav.

Solidad opened the Hoenn Contest Circuit's app to check schedules and times. It was a useful tool the Contest Organization had created to help coordinators figure out everything from top contestant stats to everything they could ever want to know about the cities where contest halls were located.

She knew Drew probably already had his final run already planned out, but she still liked knowing what the options were.

"There's a few contests coming up," Solidad read off the calendar. "One in Lilycove?"

"That one's a bit far away," Drew shook his head. "Not really the direction I want to be heading."

"What about the one in Purika City?" Solidad tried again. "I actually have a friend who's going to be competing in that one."

"I thought about it, but I'd rather enter a contest that's sooner rather than later," Drew said. "I don't want to waste and extra Grand Festival training time."

"So I guess that means that the Pacifidlog one is out as well," Solidad kept scrolling on.

"You think I would wait until the _last_ contest of the season to go for a ribbon?" Drew mocking acted offended. "Seriously, Sol, I'm not a rookie here."

"Big talk for someone with only four," she bit back.

Drew chuckled, then shook his head again, reaching his hand out for her PokéNav.

"I think you're looking at the R1 or lower calendar," he mused, backing out of her search quickly to find what he wanted.

She waited patiently while he browsed the optional schedules until he apparently found the right one. He nodded, pulled up what he was looking for and handed the device back to Solidad. She looked down at the screen, showing the R3 class calendar, the highest-class regular contests went to.

R3 contests were scarcely attended by coordinators but highly attended by audiences. It was where the most skilled coordinators gathered to test themselves before the Grand Festival. Generally throughout a season, most coordinators liked to play it safe and stuck to the general contests to get their five ribbons. R3 contests were for those crazy enough to take on the best of the best outside of the Grand Festival.

"I want to go to Mossdeep City for the last ribbon," he explained with certainty. "It's at the end of next week, and it's a class R3. That seems like pretty good practice for going into the Grand Festival, right?"

The calendar told her the contest also fell on the one date that Solidad had truly come to Hoenn for. It didn't surprise her that he chose that day to compete.

No, what surprised her was that he wasn't playing it safe. He was ready and willing to step away from an almost assured victory and go straight into what would very likely be the hardest contest he'd ever competed in. It was extremely competitive of him to make such a bold move, and she wondered why he'd make that choice. He was not a risk taker in contests.

It couldn't have been to impress her. Solidad had only just told him she'd be traveling with him to watch him compete, and he clearly had this planned out for quite a while.

Come to think of it, Solidad had noticed Drew was a lot more emotional about all the contests he'd entered this year. True, she'd seen him near tears in the first contest he'd been in, but after that, he went through contests with a stony resolve and blank slate of emotions. He'd skipped the Grand Festival without even batting an eye. Now here he was, one ribbon away from it, and clearly higher on life than she'd ever thought possible for him.

He discussed contests more passionately as well this season. He'd been far more critical and observant of how other coordinators not only handled their performances, but also of how they handled themselves and their Pokémon. He didn't throw off-hand comments about people. He really took the time and broke down each of their appeals and battles.

Well, at least for one he did.

Solidad knew it was still way too early for Drew to fully comprehend just how much May was pushing him to be a better coordinator overall. He still didn't believe she could have much of an impact on him at all, but Solidad had been watching Drew for months now. She could see it. And she had every intention of pushing that along.

She wanted Drew to be happy, and even though he didn't know it yet, a ribbon cup wouldn't make him happy. It would for a while, but in the long run, not a shot.

Solidad could see that May was someone who could do that for him.

True, May wasn't the only person that could give Drew the happiness he deserved, but she was an important first step. May could teach Drew a lot about himself and who he wanted to be; up until this point, Drew had failed to see that. May could help him grow in ways Solidad couldn't, if Drew would just learn to openly accept her as a rival and eventually as a friend.

She made him more competitive. She made him see contests in a new light. She made him love coordinating in ways he hadn't before.

The only problem was that May wouldn't be at the Mossdeep City Contest; Solidad knew May didn't qualify for it. Solidad only hoped she could get the last three ribbons she needed to enter the Grand Festival, but somehow, she knew May would.

"Mossdeep it is," she finally agreed.

They began making their travel plans, then. Since they were staying in different hotels for the night, they had to do some early morning scheduling. After a few minutes, they decided to meet at the edge of town early the next day to set out for Slateport, where they would hop the ferry to take them to Mossdeep.

The two of them set out to their hotels, coffee long having been finished and the sun set for the evening.

"So why stick around?" Drew had asked as they walked on the sidewalk towards Solidad's hotel. "You already saw me compete today. What's so special about the next contest?"

"Oh, you know, lots of reasons," Solidad responded, looking down at him from the corner of her eye. "My adopted little brother competing for his fifth ribbon, a chance to explore Hoenn again, _birthdays_ …the list goes on and on."

He tensed, and cursed to himself.

"You would remember…" he sighed, rubbing his temples with two fingers.

Solidad laughed in response.

* * *

 **Author's note:  
** \- I know there's no contest hall in Mossdeep in the R/S/E or ORAS games, but there isn't one in Pacifidlog on there either, and that town had a contest in the anime…so let's just all pretend, alright? Good. No further questions. Until the next chapter, peace out homies.


	9. Mossdeep City

**Chapter Nine: Mossdeep City–** In which Drew and Solidad travel together, Solidad makes a friend and Drew competes in an R3 contest.

 **Author's notes:  
** \- This chapter isn't based on any episodes of the anime; don't let the title fool you.  
\- I'm back in school, meaning I'll be so busy but I'll be trying to force out chapters as often as I can. Let's see what happens.  
\- Mentions of events from the episodes, "Pokéblock, Stock, and Berry," "Lessons in Lilycove" and "A Cacturne for the Worse."  
\- Fair warning, this chapter is _really_ long. As in, 54 pages (and 23,336 words long) on a Microsoft Word document long.  
\- I'm not saying you can skip this chapter, because I did take a while to write it, but…if you're here for strict contestshipping, there's little to none in this chapter. It's just a Drew–Solidad adventure. And it's long because I finally got some creative freedom outside of having to follow episodes. Hope you guys like it!

* * *

Traveling with a partner was a curveball at first.

Now with Solidad walking next to him, occasionally commenting on one thing or another– well, it took some getting used to. Since he first set out on his journey, Drew had always been alone, and he had every intention of staying solo throughout his travels. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate Solidad or her company; it was more of getting used to being mindful of someone else on the way.

It had been three days since they left Rubello Town, and Slateport City was on the horizon. From there, they would jump on the overnight ferry to Mossdeep, where Drew would have just three days to prepare himself for the R3 contest he was going into, and part of him worried whether or not it would help or hurt him to have Solidad there while he practiced.

All things considered, Solidad was a better coordinator than him. She had more grace, experience and talent than he did, and he hoped one day to match that. So the thought of having her watch and critique him during practice was a bit daunting to him. He knew training wasn't supposed to always be perfect, but with her watching him, he felt like he had to be. And then in the real show, he'd feel like he would have to be better than perfect.

So yes; traveling with someone was definitely a different experience. Traveling with Solidad was on an entirely different level.

The first day had been the worst for him; not bad by any means, because traveling with her wasn't bad, but it was the hardest day to adjust to the newness of having a temporary companion.

On the morning when he'd woken up, before the sun had even risen, he packed his bags and made his way to the edge of town with the ever-present feeling that he was forgetting something looming over him. He was just passing the city limits when his PokéNav buzzed, a text from Solidad apologizing and saying she needed five more minutes to dry her hair before she'd be ready to go. He nearly tripped over his own two feet sprinting back to her hotel, and when she'd come out the front door to find him out of breath and panting heavily, he'd told her he just wanted to go for a morning jog with his face as pink as her hair.

It was all too obvious to her what had really happened, but she let it go. The jokes would be too easy to make, and she knew this whole traveling together for a few days thing was going to be a different experience for him. So she asked if they could get coffee on their way out, and Drew nodded all too eagerly, clearly desperate to move on from the embarrassment on his part.

His original intent was that they would barely take any breaks on day one. Drew was clearly someone who didn't make pit stops or delay for any reason when he was on his way somewhere. Meanwhile, Solidad was traversing through parts of the region she'd never seen, even during her time there in the previous contest season in Hoenn, wanting to take pictures and check out unique little shops along the routes. Drew never verbally complained, but out of the corner of her eyes, she could see him pursing his lips and often glancing at his watch or the direction they were going in. She tried making less stops after she'd noticed, but she still pull him off the road at some places. Drew needed to learn how to have fun while traveling.

Still, she didn't want to be totally rude; though some of them were important stops she needed to make, this _was_ Drew's journey, and she could understand his eagerness to get from point A to point B without much distraction. So from that point on, she kept her stops to a minimum and made sure they pertained to contests in someway so Drew could at least be somewhat interested.

Around lunchtime, she's made them stop at an organic berry farm on Route 123. She opted to go inside and meet the couple that ran the place, promising she'd only be a few minutes. Drew nodded and told her to have fun while he tended to their Pokémon, seeing no need to meet the people. He found meeting people was kind of tedious when it was unnecessary, and seeing as he'd never planned to stop at any of these places, it felt really unnecessary. Solidad emerged after only being gone for several minutes, and they were on their way again.

The first night, they stayed in Fortree City much later that Drew had originally predicted, so they swung by a diner and got a light meal before finding a place to sleep. When they'd first checked into the hotel, the receptionist tried checking them into a single room, in which Drew responded by turning a deep crimson and quickly telling her they would need to separate rooms. Solidad jumped in and apologized for the confusion, and laughed a little when she saw how Drew was almost sweating.

"You're seriously bad at traveling with traveling with someone else," Solidad commented as they made their way down the hall towards their separate but neighboring rooms.

"It's different," he admitted. "I'm having a good time with you, don't get me wrong. It's just different."

They stopped in front of their respective doors to bid each other goodnight.

"Well, see you in the morning, kiddo," Solidad reached out and tousled his hair a bit.

"Yeah, yeah, easy," Drew scrunched his face and ducked away a bit before she could totally mess up his hair.

"Oh, and by the way, don't leave without me again," she stuck her head out and winked at him and slipped back through the door before he could respond.

Drew gulped and slipped into his own room.

He collapsed on the bed and was asleep within minutes, the long day finally catching up to him.

* * *

Day two was more or less the same.

Solidad had knocked on his door early in the morning, waking him up because he'd forgotten to set an alarm having passed out so early the night before.

Sipping coffee over breakfast at a small local café, Drew looked over the map on his PokéNav. He cringed when he realized how far behind schedule he was; had they not stopped so many times the day prior, they'd only have a few hours trip to make today before arriving in Slateport. With their position, he'd realized they still had a little over a day's walk.

He wanted to say something, but he knew that she knew he wanted to get to Mossdeep as quickly as possible, and they did have a few days.

They walked through small towns and open valleys, making even less stops along the route than they had the day before. Drew had noticed every stop they'd made, Solidad's backpack grew a little bit bigger. He assumed she wouldn't want to stop much anymore because her bag was getting a little too heavy, and he more or less seemed to be correct. He didn't complain; the less stops, the more time they'd save and the quicker he'd get to Mossdeep to start training.

When they'd stopped for the night, they were only about a two-hour walk from Slateport, much to Drew's relief. Once Solidad had chosen a hotel with space available and they'd checked into their rooms, they settled in for dinner at a small local place next door.

Solidad ordered some spicy ramen dish and he ordered a salad, to which Solidad had quipped it matched his hair, and he ignored her, mainly because he had no good response to counter her with. He had other things to worry about.

"So we'll get to Slateport tomorrow morning, the ferry should have us in Mossdeep by tomorrow evening," Solidad commented during the meal when the silence became a bit too boring for her.

"Yeah, good," Drew chewed thoughtfully, his eyes out the window.

They'd gotten their food minutes before, and she was almost half way through her bowl. Meanwhile, Drew had barely even gotten a quarter of the way into his plate.

"What are you thinking about?" Solidad inquired.

"My appeal, who I'll use in which rounds, how I'll handle the R3 contest, the list goes on," he answered, looking back at her, his face a bit blank.

She never knew him to be an emotive person, but she always knew how to read him, and she knew that wasn't the only thing on his mind.

"Are you nervous?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"What?" he seemed surprised. "No, not at all. I just…well–"

"You expected to be in Mossdeep by now, training," she finished, a knowing look passing over her features.

Drew sighed, pursed his lips and nodded a bit.

"Drew, don't feel bad," she told him easily. "I totally shook up your game. I know I did. I just really wanted to travel with you for a bit and be here on your birthday."

"It's contest day," Drew corrected her. "You know I don't do birthday stuff. Ever."

"Well, this year, you're going to," she told him, her tone final.

"Fine," he knew he wouldn't get anywhere in the argument. "Just nothing too big, okay?"

Solidad nodded, taking a sip of her drink.

"Good, because even if you said no, I still have a few small plans; nothing too big," she confirmed. "Anyway, don't worry about me. Once we get to Mossdeep, I'll stay out of your way so you can train. I've never been to Mossdeep and I wanted to explore it a bit with my Pokémon."

Drew seemed to relax a little at her words, and she smiled softly at him. He'd never admit it, but he was nervous, whether he realized it or not. After all, he'd never been in an R3 contest, and he was gambling a whole season on this one. Drew had no intention of competing again until the Grand Festival rolled around, and he was counting on winning. If he lost this one, he'd have to compete in another contest somewhere. She knew it would be tough.

"It's a big island," Drew lamented. "Lots to do and see there. I think the big draw is the space center. They do a lot of research on Pokémon from outer space there. There's a museum and everything. I've never been, but I'm sure it's interesting."

"I'll keep myself entertained, don't worry," she responded, an easy smile still on her face. "I already made reservations for each of us at separate hotels. You won't see me until after the contest, I promise."

He seemed distracted throughout their conversation. Solidad could tell Drew's mind was still miles away as he nodded.

"Thank you," he told he, his eyes locked down on a tomato he was absent-mindedly pushing around with his fork.

She simply shrugged and continued eating, giving him some silence so he could think.

Drew wouldn't admit he was nervous for the contest, because he was convinced that wasn't the truth. If anything, he was excited; it was his first taste of real, tough competition. His first R3 contest; the closest thing he'd ever competed in to the Grand Festival. He had every strategy he planned to use already mapped out in his head, and he knew exactly how he wanted to go into this contest.

He'd use Masquerain in the appeal rounds, and Roselia in the battles. He could rely on Masquerain to get him a flashy enough appeal to advance him, and then he'd fall back on Roselia in the battle rounds. Although Masquerain had more than proved himself in the last contest as a battler, he'd been battling with Roselia longer, and he was more confident in her abilities to take on the undoubtedly strong Pokémon they'd go up against.

Thanks to a glance at the rules a week earlier when he'd decided he wanted to enter the R3, Drew learned he only needed to compete with two Pokémon despite it being an R3 contest. Vibrava was still out of the question; he had already made up his mind that Vibrava would not appear in a contest; only when he was a Flygon would he be ready. He only prays to Arceus that he would have his Flygon before the Grand Festival, because there was only eleven weeks left, and Drew had already invested too much training time not to have this Flygon debut. He, along with Roselia and Masquerain, would win him his first title. The whole season was supposed to go according to this plan.

But it hadn't.

Since day one of this season, Drew had encountered more unexpected roadblocks on his path to his first Grand Festival than he could have ever anticipated. He expected to have all five of his ribbons already, but here he stood at four. He was supposed to be off training in some secluded part of Hoenn by now, but here he sat four days away from competing again to earn ribbon number five. He should have breezed through this season without ever having faced a defeat, like he had in his first season, but he'd faltered.

He'd lost three times that season; the first loss was in the first contest he'd entered. It was unnerving and a bit maddening. There were still nights, all these months later, when he thought about it; his loss to Robert, the powerhouse coordinator who came out of nowhere and threw him off his game. He'd tried several times to convince himself that it was really because he'd met May then, and he'd let himself get too distracted by her to focus entirely on the contest like he should have.

That worked for a few weeks, and he'd won the next few contests he'd been in. He was only one ribbon off count by that point, and things were looking fine. But then he ran into May again, and he faced defeat at the hands of that all too powerful Medicham. And the opponent that had bested him, was in turn bested by May. That threw him for a loop, and he didn't expect it to happen again.

But it did.

May had been there at his second attempt for ribbon number four, and thanks to the Phantom's all too powerful Dusclops, he'd let the victory and the contest slip through his fingers again. It was disarming, to know that had the season gone according to how he had pictured it in the beginning, he'd be somewhere else, settling into his hotel room after a long day of training and just one day closer to the Grand Festival.

It was all supposed to be different; he shouldn't have let himself fall behind in the ways that he had. He could be as excited for the R3 contest and the benefits of practice competing it could bring him, but ultimately, he shouldn't have needed to enter this one.

Drew didn't want to focus so much on his losses that season. He tried to keep his mind off the losses he'd faced more time than he could count. He'd distract himself with training and planning and dreaming of how great it would feel to hold his own ribbon cup in his hands instead of thinking of the times he'd watched his own Pokémon faint, or his points trickle down to zero.

But the thoughts were always present in the back of his head.

Having never lost before the season started, and it seemed the closer he got to the Grand Festival he got, the more common it became. It all started to weigh down on him a bit. Four ribbons was nothing short of impressive for any coordinator, and he knew that. But maybe he wasn't as perfect as he thought he was. Maybe he would face the same coordinators he'd lost to in the Grand Festival. Maybe he'd lose, after he'd been planning on winning for such a long time.

Anything could happen; this season had proved that. He'd been thrown off his game more than once and he couldn't let that happen again. He couldn't let himself get distracted, and he couldn't afford to underestimate anyone anymore. May, a rookie coordinator in her first year, who relied on luck more than anything else and barely knew what she was doing yet, had done better than he had in some contests. That shook him; how could he slip up so much that such a novice could surpass him a few times? Never again; not now, when everything was supposed to be falling into place.

This whole season had been a mess so far, and he didn't like it.

But he was also torn as his mind flashed back to the advice he had given May just a few short days ago.

 _"Forget what you've won."_

Did the same hold true for his losses of the season? Shouldn't he take into account what he did wrong those times and apply it to the next contests? Was that something that could apply to the other piece of his advice?

 _"Concentrate on the future."_

His choice was to remember the losses and use those to push himself to win, or not let that fact bother him and work towards the Grand Festival. But since he hadn't expected to lose at all…how could the fact not bother him? Especially when these were just regular contests, and he was going into an R3 match.

He wasn't used to being this confused; not about contests, and it was throwing him for a loop. Was he really nervous? He couldn't have been…could he?

He sighed, and pushed his plate forward.

"Done already?" Solidad asked, slurping her noodles.

She noticed that he twitched a little, seeming to have forgotten he was with someone, or just stuck inside his own head.

"Not really all that hungry, I guess."

She made a point to push the remainder of her food forward as well, entirely focused on his face. He wasn't looking at her, and his eyes were unfocused on the table as he bit his lip; a trope she'd noticed in him when he was thinking hard about something. But he'd been a little off all trip. Since the first day they'd set out, he'd been more quiet and thoughtful than she'd ever seen him, and she knew it wasn't because she was traveling with him.

"Well, it is late," she said, moving to get out of her side of the booth. "I'd say it's time for bed. We have to be in Slateport by 8 to catch the ferry."

She waited to see if he'd have any reaction to that; to the fact that he'd be training and getting ready for the contest soon enough.

"Right," was all he said.

It wasn't the reaction she had anticipated. Drew pulled his wallet out, threw some money on the table to cover both meals and the tip, and held the door open for her as they exited the restaurant. They entered the lobby of the hotel wordlessly and made their way to their separate rooms in silence.

"Don't forget to set your alarm this time," Solidad quipped as she bid him goodnight.

The ghost of a forced small smile appeared on his lips as he nodded and closed the door softly behind him.

Solidad watched the door for a few minutes, torn between talking to him about whatever was bothering him, or just letting him deal with it himself, the latter she knew he'd prefer. Drew was hard to navigate at times, and she knew he'd always been more of a loner. It couldn't have been the fact that he had to travel with her for a few days that had him so down; although that might have bothered him a bit, it wasn't the main problem. She knew him better than that.

Something about this whole season was throwing him off, and she was fairly confident she knew what it was, but above all of that, she knew one absolute truth: he wasn't as confident in himself as he wanted to be.

Drew needed this win.

* * *

It was his turn to wake her up the next morning.

He knocked on her door softly a full 20 minutes before her alarm was set to go off. When she'd pulled open the door, still clad in her pajamas and her long pink hair scattered from sleep, he had been fully dressed and ready to go. He told her to take her time getting ready, as he would be down in the lobby checking out and grabbing some coffee. She could see him bouncing with nervous energy, ready to go. So she laughed and nodded, telling him she'd met him down there shortly.

True to her word, Solidad arrived in the lobby, meeting Drew at the front desk as he held out a go cup of coffee for her. She thanked him as she accepted the cup and made her way to the coffee station.

"I already loaded it down with a sinful amount of sugar," he informed her as he watched her with narrowed eyes.

"A 'sinful amount of sugar' to you is anything over two packets," she joked back, popping off the top and quickly mixing in three more spoonful's of white crystals. "I promise you, you didn't put enough in here."

He rolled his eyes as he turned back to the clerk at the desk and handed him the room keys. Not long after they were on the road, the sun just peaking over the horizon as they marched toward Slateport.

Solidad noticed he was more open to discussion today as long as she kept it contest-oriented. When she'd ask him about how he planned to handle his appeal, he'd gone over – in excruciatingly thorough detail – every possible routine he'd thought of in the last few days before finally settling on one he wouldn't tell her about, but promised she'd like nonetheless. Then, a few minutes later, when she'd asked him if he'd ever been to Mossdeep before, it was a short reply about how he had once or twice but never really did much there. He was in full on competition mode and she knew he would be for the next few days, which was why she planned to stay out of his way once they made it to Mossdeep. She had things planned to keep her entertained, anyway.

A flock of Wingull greeted them as they entered Slateport on the beach side of the town, walking toward the harbor. The sunshine was bright and hot as they walked in silence toward the station so Solidad could get a ticket for the ferry. Drew already had a ferry pass for Hoenn, so he was set, and didn't see the harm in spending a few minutes for Solidad to get herself a ticket. It was a fairly painless process, minus the fact that the old woman at the ticket counter wanted to chat about how nice a day it was to ride the ferry, to which Solidad's polite nature kicked in, and she was humoring the woman. In reality, they only talked for three minutes, four at most. To Drew, it felt like 40 minutes.

Then, finally, a few days later than he'd originally planned, they boarded the ship and were in route to Mossdeep. They would dock on the island a few hours later, and Drew could settle in and get to work with his Pokémon. Thankfully, this ferry was Pokémon friendly, and Drew and Solidad were allowed to release their teams and allow them to wander about the ship. Their Pokémon were more than eager to have a break from their Pokéballs.

After a few minutes of watching them, Solidad asked Drew if he could watch her Pokémon while she went to take a nap in her cabin, telling him he woke up much earlier than regular humans did and she needed to catch up on sleep with the time-zone differences or whatever. He didn't pay all that much attention, and she knew he was still distracted. She didn't take it personally, however; she cracked some joke about him not falling overboard, smiled and shuffled off.

That was how Drew found himself leaning on the railing with Roselia by his side, watching his Masquerain and Vibrava and Solidad's Pidgeot following the ship and basking in the open air as they stretched their wings. Solidad's Lapras was happily following the ship in the ocean below, easily keeping up with the ship's speed; a testament to how powerful the water Pokémon was. Her Slowbro, meanwhile, was riding on Lapras' back and enjoying the occasional spray from the waves and the rays of the sun.

All of their Pokémon were happy and healthy and to see them all playing together was a welcome sight. It calmed Drew down to see how well his Pokémon were, and he found his sense of confidence a bit renewed. While the contest he was going into would be tough, he had to remember that at the heart of coordinating, he had to believe in his Pokémon. They'd never once let him down and they wouldn't start now.

So he breathed in the fresh sea air, and looked down to his Roselia beside him, who in turn looked up to him as well. She looked slightly confused, like she could feel something was off with him. She was his best friend and his first partner; she could always tell what he was thinking.

"Roselia, let's win this thing," he said.

She smirked at him and nodded, saying she agreed with him.

 _We will_.

* * *

They'd reached Mossdeep an hour after the sun went down.

Solidad wrapped her coat around herself tightly and Drew shrunk into his jacket as city lights illuminated the dark horizon. The temperature had dropped significantly the closer they drew to the island, and the wind chill didn't help either. Despite the temperature, neither of them moved to go inside; both were too excited to finally arrive at their destination, Drew more so. He wanted to be the first one off the ship.

"I didn't know Hoenn got this chilly," she commented.

"We're farther up north than we were before," Drew explained. "Some parts of this island freeze regularly. There's a cave north of the city that stays icy year round, actually."

"Shoal Cave?" Solidad clarified. "I've read about that. I planned to go explore it with Lapras tomorrow. I hear there's some rare evolutionary properties and Pokémon there. I'm definitely interested."

When they got off the ferry, Solidad handed Drew a piece of paper with an address on it. Drew looked it over and looked back to her.

"That's your hotel," she explained. "Just show up and tell them your name, and they'll bring you to your room. I'm staying at the inn across town."

"Thanks," Drew said, pocketing the note. "You really didn't have to do this, Sol; I don't have a problem staying with you."

"No, no," she shook her head slowly with a sweet smile. "You need to focus on getting ready for the contest. I'm not here to distract you. I'll meet you at the end after you've gotten your ribbon, and we'll go out to dinner to celebrate your victory and your birthday."

He eyed her skeptically at the end, and she laughed.

"Calm down dweeb," she chided him between her giggles. "I promised I would keep it simple. I'd hardly call a birthday dinner a huge celebration."

"Alright, but no surprises," he warned her.

She only laughed at him again.

"Right, of course," she nodded. "Good luck with training. Text me if you're down for a break or even a battle. I'll be around."

With that, she turned and made her way down town, and Drew headed for the Pokémon Center. He wanted to use the practice fields now that the sun was down, because the appeal he planned for required darkness.

* * *

Drew had three days to get his team ready for what would be the toughest contest of his career.

This meant both long days and long nights.

During the day, he'd spend hours working with Roselia, fine-tuning her battling and prepping her. She seemed more than eager when Drew told her that she'd be competing in the battle rounds only, and Masquerain would handle their appeal.

Roselia was pushing herself harder than she ever had in training before. The second Drew told her it was an R3 contest, she buckled down and got to work. She knew how the contests worked, and Drew had to explain very little to her the process; it was essentially just like the R1 they'd competed in almost a week before.

Each morning, they found themselves secluded and out in the woods training the second the sun came up to fuel her grass attacks even more. Drew preferred to train alone, so no one could see what he was planning.

He was making sure each petal from her petal dance was astoundingly accurate and devastatingly beautiful. He was confirming that her stun spore attack was potent enough to paralyze even the toughest opponents. He was observing that her magical leaf was at its brightest and best. And he was dead set on guaranteeing that her solar beam would be as fatally powerful as it had ever been before.

Roselia never complained once, pouring everything she had into every attack. Drew knew she could see how much he wanted this win, and he could see how badly she wanted it, too. With so much passion and drive, he knew they could win. They were the perfect pair; they always had been and they always would be.

When the sun went down, and most other coordinators and/or trainers would retreat to their beds for the night, Drew would return Roselia, and out came Masquerain, who was also eager to train, still high on their previous victory at his contest debut in Rubello Town. It was a never-ending cycle of day and night training, with very few breaks in between. Drew only stopped to sleep for few hour intervals and eat light meals. He'd rest after he'd won.

Masquerain's appeal was tricky, and it took a lot of thinking, timing and precision to nail what Drew had pictured in his head for this appeal.

The first night, just minutes after they'd arrived in Mossdeep, they were practicing their combination. At first, it wasn't working out the way he'd anticipated it would, and after hours of trying to repeat the combination he'd been more or less banking on, he decided to scrap it and try a second approach. The first move was a must; the follow up move was tricky.

On the second night, he tried a new technique; one with more promise, but initially, little success. His timing was off, and Masquerain was working hard at controlling these two attacks separately to reproduce what Drew had explained on their first night. During their practice, Masquerain was nailing the first move, and getting better at his follow up, which was slowly starting to match the picture in Drew's head. Drew knew they had found the working combination, but they needed to fine tune it, and it was proving to be more difficult than he'd hoped. He knew it wasn't easy, but if Masquerain could pull it off, it'd definitely get him a high score. He just hoped it would be high enough considering he'd be going up against some of Hoenn's best coordinators.

On the third night, Drew was starting to worry that maybe three days and four nights wasn't going to be enough time to get this appeal mastered. But, after hours of steady progress, Masquerain finally pulled off the combination perfectly. Drew watched as his appeal played out as beautifully as he'd envisioned it, and he showered his Masquerain with praises when he landed on his shoulder chirping happily. A few more trial runs and only two mistakes later, Drew felt more confident than he had all week.

On the third day and fourth night, Drew finally went to bed after a long, drawn out training session, his Pokémon resting in the Pokémon Center next to the contest hall. Masquerain had finally mastered the appeal move set, and Roselia was looking perfectly fit for battle. He planned to pick them up in the morning and check in for the contest.

Just as she'd promised, he hadn't seen Solidad since they'd arrived as Mossdeep. At her request, he texted her every few hours to tell her how he was doing, and as per her request, she checked in with him to confirm she was okay as well. Their texts exchanged weren't long or drawn out, as they never had been. Simple, standard messages were passed between them.

 _"Don't forget to eat something," she'd reminded him._

 _"Let me know when you make it back to your hotel," he requested of her at night._

 _"The space center is awesome; I had a great time on the tour. Have you slept today?"_

 _"_ _Masquerain did it; can't wait to show you our appeal. Make sure you take more than just Lapras into Shoal Cave with you; apparently there's some old guy who hangs out there or whatever. And watch for the rising tide and the ice on the floors in the deeper caverns._ _"_

Now, as he'd entered his room from his final pre-contest training session, he checked the messages on his phone to find a new one from Solidad.

 _"Can't wait to see you tomorrow! Get some rest! And happy early birthday!"_

He rolled his eyes at her mother-like texts, but couldn't stop a small smile from gracing his lips. It had been odd, after spending three straight days with her to not have her around at all, but know she was nearby. He wondered if she'd see him practice at any points; it would explain how she knew he wasn't sleeping a lot. Or it could have just been the fact that she really did know him all too well.

Whatever the reason, he sent her a single "okay," assuming she was already asleep and plugged his PokéNav into it's charger on the desk in his room.

Then, Drew went through what he dubbed his "contest eve rituals," taking a shower and blow-drying his hair so he wouldn't have to fool with it in the morning. His clothes were laid out perfectly flat and ready for the morning. He double-checked that his alarm was set on his PokéNav several times before finally settling into bed.

And before he turned out the light, he took a few deep breaths.

It had been a taxing three days and four nights of training. Drew felt like he had never pushed himself or his Pokémon harder, but he knew it would all pay off. He believed in them, and he finally felt more relaxed than he had been in a week.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of town, Solidad was putting the finishing touches on her gift for Drew, tying the last bow on top of the wrapped package. When the knot was secure, she took a step back to examine her work and found she was satisfied with it.

A quick glance at the clock on the table next to her bed told her it was almost midnight. She knew she had to be up early the next morning to get a good spot at the contest hall, and decided to take a shower to save herself the time in the morning.

It had been a lovely three days in Mossdeep City, and she had every intention of returning again some day.

On her first day, she had slept in late to make up for the last few days. She never got her day started too late, but she was a firm believer in waiting for the sun to rise before getting out of bed, whereas Drew liked to get going before the sun even touched the sky. She couldn't force herself to complain about his travel habits, though; it was his journey and she had more or less crashed it. But she didn't realize just how much sleep she'd been missing until she glanced at the clock and saw it was almost noon.

So on day one, she decided to check out the space station. She hadn't planned on it, but when she arrived that first night and saw it shining a top the hill looking over the city, she was instantly interested. And it had proven to be a worthwhile experience. She spent hours in the museum alone, and eventually joined a tour guide as he showed a small group of eager tourists different parts of the space station and explained its day to day operations. She found herself even more intrigued when he started explaining some of their current projects, including intensive research on the legendary Deoxys. They weren't allowed to know much, as apparently the project was top secret until facts could be confirmed or whatever the man said. It was a lot of information to keep track of.

Still, she had fun that first day; especially when the group was permitted to walk on the actual launch pad of the rockets and see it all up close and firsthand. She couldn't believe how large it was in real life, or that she was standing in the presence of something that was going to be in space.

By the time they'd re-entered the museum for the conclusion of the tour, she found herself in the gift shop, spending more money than she really should have been on little trinkets and souvenirs. But she liked to gather little things from the places she went, and how could she pass up that little rocket ship keychain or the Lunatone and Solrock coffee mugs? She was just that sentimental.

She thanked the cashier and exited the center, slightly surprised to see that the sun had started to set on the horizon. Though she couldn't say she was totally shocked, as she had spent a great deal of time there. So she made her way back to the hotel she was staying at and decided a long bubble bath was in order.

Her second day in Mossdeep, she woke up much earlier. She packed her day backpack with extra layers of clothes as she prepared to go with Lapras and explore the depths of Mossdeep's famous Shoal Cave. She dropped her other Pokémon off at the local Pokémon Center for the day, knowing they wouldn't appreciate the cold like Lapras would.

Just before she set off, she shot Drew a text saying she wouldn't have service in the cave and reminding him to take a break every few hours. He replied almost instantly with a "be careful" text telling her he'd heard some strange old man liked to hang out in the cave. Little did he know Solidad already knew about him and was eager to find him.

Prior to learning about him, she already had plans to go into the cave and explore it for herself. She'd read about it online many times; it was a place not commonly visited by anybody. A cavern carved inside of a mountain by the ocean, and it was home so some of Hoenn's few ice types. A rare breed of Pokémon in a typically hot region for sure, so she knew she had to check it out. While seeking information on it from residential people on the island people, they told her of the old man who spent most of his days in the cave for some unknown reason. He was a retired bell maker, famous for making all sorts of ringers in different varieties. But he was most known for making famous Mossdeep shell bells, which he hadn't produced in years apparently.

That was all the information people seemed to have on him, though. So she had every intention of meeting this man if she could find him, and she wasn't worried there would be any trouble. Not when she had her common sense and a Lapras by her side should that common sense ever fail.

True to the words of locals, she saw the man just inside the cave, standing near the entrance. She hopped off her Lapras as her rain boots splashed into the ankle-deep water, and sloshed her way over to him, her Pokémon staying at her side. The man turned and smiled at her warmly.

"Haven't seen anyone come in here for a while," he told her, his voice somewhat frail.

From first glance, Solidad guessed he had to be in his 80's at least. He stood with a slight hunch, making him shorter than her, though she assumed he was her height as well. A thick, white beard hid the lower half of his face while the top half bore soft blue eyes and many wrinkles.

She instantly relaxed when she saw he was no threat, as did her Lapras beside her, and held out her hand to shake his.

"Hello, sir," she smiled back at him. "My name is Solidad; I'm from Kanto."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Solidad," he put his hand on top of hers, and she noticed how thin his skin was and the slight tremor in his grip, reflecting his age. "Your name is lovely; it means, solitude. Did you know that? And my, what a beautiful Lapras you have"

"Yes sir, I did, thank you," she nodded.

She could tell he was genuinely happy to get to see someone, much less speak to someone. His eyes were bright with excitement at having an actual conversation, and she wondered why he chose to spend time alone here.

"My name is Arthur," he told her. "So what brings you to this humble little cave?"

"I'm traveling with a friend through Hoenn for a bit and he's training for the contest in two days right now," she explained. "So I left him to practice and I'm just out exploring."

"Oh, the contest, of course," Arthur seemed to ponder this for a moment. "My wife Elaine and I used to love watching those contests. She was a bit too old to compete by the time they started, but my goodness did we enjoy watching them. She passed about three years ago now. I haven't been to a contest since."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Solidad said quickly. "You must miss her terribly."

"I do," he nodded, a sad smile on his face. "But Elaine was a good woman; lived her life to the fullest. We traveled around a lot in our lives together. Met right here in this very spot so many years ago."

"Did you?" Solidad brightened up. "Would you mind sharing?"

"Oh now, aren't you sweet?" Arthur laughed softly. "Humoring an old man. I don't want to bore you, dear. The tide is high right now so you could explore some of the upper levels of the cave."

"I don't mind," she said genuinely. "I'd love to listen to your story if you'd be willing to share it with me."

His eyes brightened, and a genuine happiness she didn't see in most people lit up his entire face. That was how Solidad got to know Arthur, and how he was once the most famous bell maker in – arguably – _all_ of Hoenn. How when he was young, he would brave the isolation of Shoal Cave to gather ingredients to make his signature Shell Bells, and the one time he got trapped in the cave because of a storm; that was when a beautiful young girl with a Wailmer braves the stormy seas and rescued him. How he and this girl had fallen in love. How they'd gotten married in the cave because it became their special place. How she couldn't have children and he didn't love her any less because of it. How they started and built his bell business together. How they'd traveled the world side by side in their retirement. How she'd gotten ill a few years prior, and eventually succumbed to her sickness. How he couldn't find it in himself to make bells after she died. And how he often returned to the cave just to try to feel her presence.

It was a story that moved Solidad to near tears from the way he told it to the emotions in his eyes.

In return, he'd asked her to tell him about herself. He was intrigued to learn that she was a young and ambitious coordinator, and he swore he had heard her name once or twice before. He asked her how Kanto and Sinnoh were in more recent times, because he hadn't been to either in years. They shared an easy conversation that lasted for hours. They both shared various short stories of their journeys across the world, and it was refreshing for Solidad to discover such a kindred spirit and humbled soul. He was just a lonely old man, reminiscing in the past. She was curious about his life, and he had been about hers.

It wasn't until there was finally a pause in their talk when Solidad had notices the water by her feet had receded.

"My, look at that!" Arthur chirped. "I've been here talking your ear off and now we've got low tide. You should be able to go to the lowest parts of the cave right about now for the next few hours. Absolutely beautiful down there; completely frozen over."

"Thank you for the conversation, Arthur, really," she said. "I truly enjoyed your stories."

"I've enjoyed yours too, Solidad. It's been a pleasure. If you're interested in exploring down below, that tunnel down there will take you down as low as you want to go."

He gestured to a bottom of the room there were in; where the water had once been, there was now a rock solid floor with only a few puddles as evidence that the chamber once held water. She nodded and thanked him, readjusting her pack and asking Lapras is he was ready to go.

"Would you like to come down there with us?" Solidad turned back to face Arthur.

"Oh goodness, how you humor me, young lady!" Arthur laughed, little tears pricking at the corners of his eyes; whether it was from happiness, the laughter or some form of longing, Solidad couldn't tell, but she guessed it was a mixture of all three. "I'm far too old to handle the cold down there. Thank you though, truly."

Solidad nodded, and bid him a polite farewell.

"Do be careful down there," Arthur bid her. "It can be slippery if you're not careful. And Solidad?"

She turned to face him.

"If you can bring me some Shoal Salt and a few Shoal Shells, I'll make you a Shoal Bell," he said.

"I'd love that," she grinned from ear to ear.

He handed her a few small pouches for collecting the salts and shells should she find them. He told her he could make one bell per full pouch, and gave her descriptions of what she was looking for.

The cave itself was glorious. The last place Solidad recalled seeing so many unique rock formations was at Mt. Moon. The way the temperature drastically dropped as she went lower and lower was astounding. It felt like she was on top of a mountain instead of at the bottom of the cave and she found herself wrapping up in increasing layers. Lapras, meanwhile, was basking in the chill of the air. He especially enjoyed the lowest room, where the walls and floors were covered in a thick layer of ice, and Solidad laughed as her water-ice type slid happily across the floor. In the center of the room was a large purple glowing rock, which Solidad had instantly recognized as an ice rock; extremely rare, but there was at least one confirmed in each region. This was the third one she'd found in her travels.

Throughout her walk, she had found multiple Shoal Shells and piles of Shoal Salt, which Arthur had told her to take as more would wash in with the tide. She hadn't even gone that far in when she'd already found she'd been able to fill two bags. She also encountered multiple Pokémon, like hoards of Spheal, Zubats, a Snorunt and even a few Sealo. It was a wonderful experience.

After a few hours of shivering, when water slowly started trickling in and when Lapras seemed satisfied, they made their way back to the entrance on the cave, where Arthur was still sitting patiently.

"I take it you enjoyed your exploration?" he asked her. "You were gone a while, the tide is starting to come back in."

"It's gorgeous in there," Solidad confirmed. "I can see why you love it here so much. Oh, and…"

She fished the two pouches from her backpack and handed them to him. He received the bags in his shaky hands and smiled at Solidad.

"Excellent job, I knew you would find them," he said, weighing the bags in his hands. "I can have two bells ready for you tomorrow if you'd like."

"I'd love that," she agreed. "Shall we meet back here? Same time?"

"I will be here," he responded, most of his focus now directed at the content of one of the bags.

Then, she took her leave, promising to meet him there again the next day. She wanted to get her Lapras rested up to repeat the journey a few hours later. Once she made it back to her hotel and actual phone service, her PokéNav rang a few times to indicate she had several new messages, all of which were from Drew. She laughed as she read over the "Are you back yet?" messages and the "Tell me when you're back" texts. She was sure to text Drew that she was fine, he didn't need to worry so much and that he had to visit the cave sometime. This earned her immediate sarcastic responses of "you do the same thing" and "I'll try," which told her he was deadest in training mode. She was just relieved he only had one more day until the contest; the boy didn't know how to take care of himself properly during the contest season.

The next morning, she was up bright and early again, all too eager to ride the ocean back to Shoal Cave, and her wonderful new friend. Lapras was more than happy to go back, and this time she made sure to bring all of her team. She wanted Arthur to meet all her Pokémon. She released them before they were through the cave's only entrance. Pidgeot fluttered over her head and Slowbro sat beside her on Lapras' back.

She found him sitting in the same spot. He was completely focused on wiping a beautifully crafted bell with another sitting his lap. His hands moved swiftly and smoothly across the bell, polishing it to perfection. All traces of his shaking hands were gone, and Solidad was more or less entranced by watching him so engrossed by his work. She could already tell it had been too long since he'd done this, just as it had probably been too long since he'd done anything other than long for the old days outside of the cave.

"Hello, Arthur," she greeted him.

Lapras also called out from next to her. Her other Pokémon politely introduced themselves as well.

His eyes lit up as they met hers and saw all of her Pokémon, and the biggest smile she'd seen on his yet appeared on his face as he held out the bells for her to examine.

"Oh, Arthur, this is lovely," she said as she took a bell into her hands. "Absolutely beautiful, really."

"I'm glad you like it," he said happily. "How does it sound?"

Solidad tentatively gave the bell a ring. It was so beautiful and looked so delicate, like over using it or ringing it too hard would cause it to shatter in her hand. But she rang it, and it felt strong and study as a alluring sound echoed off the walls of the cave. Lapras and all of her Pokémon seemed to perk up with the sound, and before Solidad could blink twice, dozens of wild Pokémon from inside the cave were surrounding them, attracted to the sounds the bell made.

She blinked, amazed, and Arthur just smiled, closed his eyes and shook his head.

"It's been so long since I've done this," he whispered, more to himself. "It's nice to know I've still got it."

Then he looked up to her.

"Shell Bells made from genuine shoal ingredients having healing properties," he explained. "It's like musical therapy for Pokémon. That was why, when I made them, people wanted them so badly. Now of course, it's no substitute for a Pokémon Center, but it is good for Pokémon."

"It's wonderful, thank you so much, really," Solidad's eyes sparkled as she rang the second bell again. "I have to give you something for these."

He held up his hand to stop her.

"You've already given this old man all he could have asked for, thank you."

"Please, let me make it up to you," she begged. "Come with me to the contest tomorrow, and watch my friend compete."

Arthur's mouth gaped a little, and he seemed a little hesitant.

"Well…" he thought about it for a few moments.

"I think you'd enjoy getting out again," Solidad told him. "I think it's what your wife would have wanted for you; to keep going as if she was still here. To keep making bells and keep going to contests and to just keep living."

There was a silence that took over the room. All of the Pokémon surrounding them watched curiously as Arthur debated with himself. Suddenly the wild Pokémon started calling out, as if to encourage him. He looked around at all of them, and Solidad realized he knew a lot of these wild Pokémon already.

"I think what your friends here are saying, is that it's time to get outside again," she told him softly.

After a moment, he sighed, smiled and silently nodded.

Solidad, as well as all of the Pokémon, were thrilled. She told him what time to meet her outside of the contest hall and where it would begin. He agreed to meet her there and told her he was looking forward to going; that she was right and maybe destiny had played a role in them meeting each other.

After countless thank you's from Solidad and lots of questions about what he should do to prepare from Arthur, the two parted ways again, promising to meet up at Mossdeep's contest hall the next morning.

With the final day before the contest ending and she was settling into bed, Solidad couldn't help but feel proud of the productivity of her trip. And now, with what she as confident was the perfect gift for Drew wrapped and sitting on her desk, she flicked off her light, shot off one final text to Drew, and settled down to get some rest.

Tomorrow was the big day.

* * *

Drew was awake before his alarm went off.

In fact, he was walking out of the door of his room, freshly dressed and making his way down to a big cup of coffee in the lobby of the hotel before the alarm even had a chance to ring.

He was both exhausted and wide-awake all at once, just as he was every morning of contests. The thrill of competing did that to him. Knowing Solidad would be watching in the crowd for once instead of on a screen was even more exciting; there was no denying seeing an appeal in person as opposed to on a television was a very different experience. With the amount of work both he and Masquerain had put into this performance, he knew it was going to be a damn good one.

He wasted no time in grabbing a to-go cup, swinging by the Pokémon Center, and picking up his Pokémon and checking in at the contest hall. With his appeal being what it was, he had to make special stage requests, at latest, two hours before the contest started. He was led to meet with several stage crew members, and he walked them through what he wanted for his appeal. When they did a few tests and he confirmed what he wanted, he was told he'd be performing last in the first round, which he had to admit he was a little surprised about. In this serious of a contest, it was surprising to hear no one else had made other special requests for their appeal.

With everything taken care of, he went to the locker room backstage and called out his two Pokémon who'd be performing. He, Masquerain and Roselia were all having a small team meeting, where he was telling them he knew they'd be absolutely perfect, and they were reassuring him that they would give it their all.

Slowly, other coordinators started filtering in. He was watching them intently, and examining their Pokémon just as they were doing to him. He didn't recognize a single one of them, but he knew that most of them knew who he was. He could hear it in the occasional whispers sounding in the room.

"Shit. That's Drew Hayden."

"His Roselia is unbelievably strong."

"You know, he's lost a few contests this season. He's not as good as he thinks he is and I bet we can take him."

"I can't believe Drew Hayden's here today. We're screwed."

"Look at his Masquerain. It's bigger than I thought it would be."

"We're _not_ losing to him."

In truth, this was something that happened a lot to Drew at contests. He could always hear the hushed chatter about him at contests, and generally, he ignored it. This time was different. This wasn't just an ordinary contest with below average coordinators.

He was only distracted when he PokéNav buzzed beside him. He picked it up and read the message from Solidad informing him that "we" had arrived, and were sitting in the front row, close to center stage but slightly to the left. He was confused by the "we," but chose to not care. He had a contest to win, and he was in a room full of some of Hoenn's best coordinators.

And from the sounds of it, all of them were out to get him.

* * *

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Mossdeep's Pokémon Contest!" the announcer's voice boomed throughout the waiting room, catching the attention of all the waiting coordinators. "My name is Lilian Meridian, from the Kanto Contest Circuit! You probably know my sister, Vivian, who usually calls the contests here in Hoenn. But today she's in Lilycove, getting things started in their contest! So I'm honored to be your stand-in MC today! Now let's meet our lovely panel of judges for today!"

As Lilian progressed through the opening remarks, Drew took one last time to talk to Masquerain, who seemed to be slightly nervous.

"Listen, Masquerain," Drew whispered down to him. "You're going to be awesome. You've worked so hard and now you're going to pull off our appeal perfectly. I believe in you."

Masquerain nodded, and Drew called him back into his Pokéball, turning back to the monitor on the wall.

"Now this is our second and final R3 contest before the Grand Festival, so you can bet we're going to see some spectacular coordinators and Pokémon today!" Lilian continued. "Please turn your attention to the monitor to see a clip from the previous R3 contest and its winner, Robert!"

Drew winced. He hadn't seen or heard of Robert since he'd lost to him in Slateport, and there he was on the screen, smiling and waving a few months prior to the day and receiving the Mossdeep Ribbon.

"That victory was Robert's fifth ribbon, and he's on his way to the Grand Festival, which will be held in Slateport City in just 11 short weeks! I hope you're all excited as we on the contest committee are, but we've got a few more contests lined up until then, starting with this one! So, without further delay, let's get busy!"

He'd never focused on watching appeals so much in his life.

He always watched every appeal of every contest, but never with this much intensity. He analyzed _every_ move that _every coordinator_ was making. Some appeals he was impressed with. Others, he'd expected more. But _none_ of the appeals totally disappointed.

One appeal that particularly impressed him was one girl – Amber was her name – whose Golduck used a bubble beam and flash combination to fill the stadium with refracted light and rainbows painting the walls. It was a spectacular appeal, and the crowd was absolutely going insane.

Another appeal that caught his eye was from a Luxray. It summoned a thunder attack – the most powerful Drew had ever seen – onto itself and withstood as if it took no damage at all. Lilian announced how her hair was standing up on its ends just from being in the presence of such a devastating display, and the judges agreed.

There were some showcases that did little to impress, like a Jumpluff spreading spores with no good follow up, or the Shuckle using rapid spin to jet around the stage. But still, he paid attention to every detail, picking out who would be the toughest to beat and who didn't have a chance of making it to round two.

Then, all too quickly, he was up next.

"Our final appeal of round one comes from a coordinator I'm sure we all know, it's Drew!" Lilian's voice was completely washed out as the crowd roared.

Drew waited until all was set to take the stage.

"I'm being told now that this appeal calls for a total blackout of our stage, so ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats as we dim all the lights!"

Surrounded by darkness, the audience fell silent, anxious and confused to see such a non-typical approach to an appeal. Drew carefully made his way to center stage and quietly released his Masquerain, who perched himself on Drew's outstretched left arm, waiting. Suddenly, a single spotlight illuminated them and only them; the rest of the indoor arena remained in darkness. At the sight of Drew and Masquerain, the crowd went insane again, and though he couldn't really see them, Drew could tell this crowd was massive, more so than he originally thought.

"Alright, Masquerain, it's all you…" he whispered, than yelled out, "Let's go! Hidden power!"

Masquerain fluttered straight above Drew's head, charging up its hidden power attack and firing it off towards the ceiling. In less than 10 seconds, there were hundreds upon hundreds of glowing white orbs floating in the darkness, like hundreds of stars dotting the sky. Some twinkled, some were bigger than others, but all of them were doing exactly what Drew and Masquerain had worked on; floating there idly and awaiting the follow up attack to complete the combination.

"Now, Masquerain, spin and use ice beam!" Drew commanded, pointing his finger upward.

When Drew had first thought of this combination, he'd tried following hidden power with bubble, which ended up failing miserably no matter how many times and ways he went for it. When he changed his mind entirely and used ice beam as the secondary move, he saw what he wanted, just as he saw right there.

Brilliant blue streaks of Masquerain's ice beam shot out from the antenna on top of his head, effectively and accurately striking each and every white orb floating around the bug Pokémon. The result was a series of glorious explosions, giving off the appearance of sparkling blue fireworks. The sparks rained down around Drew and Masquerain, paired with a few spare icy fragments from the ice beam attack. It all contrasted perfectly with the darkness, and Drew couldn't have asked for the final result of all Masquerain's hard work to look any better.

There was a moment of dead silence in the contest hall as everyone watched in stunned amazement. The fireworks Drew and his Masquerain had created effectively captivated every pair of eyes in that room.

Masquerain gently drifted down surrounded by the shimmering lights, and Drew raised a fist over his head for his Pokémon to perch on. The two finished in that pose, still being surrounded by the sparks and sparkles they'd worked so hard to create. The reward was deafening cheers from the crowds and awestruck judges.

The audience wouldn't stop cheering for Drew. He could feel their screams vibrating through his chest. The lights were slowly coming back on in the arena and he was starting to see just how many people had seen his performance. It was a full two minutes before the monitors above displayed a "quiet please" sign that the excitement finally started to die down, and Drew and Masquerain were awarded their 29.8 score.

"Wow, a near-perfect score!" Lilian announced. "Drew's 29.8 surpasses our previous high score record for the Mossdeep Contest, held by our last winner, Robert, who scored a 29.6 in his own appeal! Let's hear it one more time for Drew and his wonderful Masquerain!"

Given permission, the crowd went insane again, and the rest of the lights in the stadium finally turned back on. Drew finally scanned through the front row to see Solidad smirking and looking straight at him while leaning over and saying something to an elderly man next to her. She pointed back at Drew, and the old man in turn smiled as well and kept applauding, as did the whole audience. And when their eyes locked, he could tell she was so proud of him. Drew then smirked back at Solidad, and turned to walk off stage and back to the locker rooms.

"Masquerain, thank you," Drew stopped for a moment when he was alone with his Pokémon in the hall. "You really outdid yourself."

Masquerain was bouncing in the air with excitement and content, singing its name out to convey its feelings of happiness.

Drew laughed to himself as he watched his Pokémon dance around. He had a good feeling about this contest. Winning wasn't going to be easy, but he knew with how great his Pokémon were, he could get there.

* * *

No one was surprised to see Drew in first place.

After a brief intermission for the judges to finish their debates, the crowd' excitement reignited instantly when the top four faces who would advance to the battle rounds lit up on the big screen, Lilian calling out their names.

"Your friend is as talented as you said he would be," Arthur pronounced to Solidad over cheers of the rest of the crowd.

"Yeah, he is," Solidad hadn't stopped smiling since his appeal. "Drew was born to be in contests; his appeals always blow me away. I met him at his first contest and I thought he had been at it for years. Even since day one, he's been a natural."

"It shows. It truly does."

It had been a contest to remember, not because of the spectacular levels of talent they had watched, but because of the joy it had brought Arthur to be there.

Solidad marveled at his knowledge as they'd watched the appeals together, Arthur exchanging criticisms and praises about each coordinator with her throughout the entire round. He nitpicked and gave fair comments just as any professional contest judge would. He'd even accurately predicted a few of the scores before they were awarded. It was truly evident just how much of a long-time fan of contests he really was.

Earlier in the morning, Solidad had treated Arthur to coffee before the contest, and she asked him to tell her how he and his wife had grown to be such contest fanatics. He told her that his wife, Elaine, had always believed in the natural beauty Pokémon were capable of creating, and by their later years, when contests had been invented, Elaine was instantly enamored by the sheer prospect of the coordinating world. She had always wanted to compete, but she felt she lacked a Pokémon that would fit into a contest. So she settled on staying in the audience, and Arthur loved to attend every contest held in Mossdeep City with her.

"I always encouraged her to try to compete," Arthur had recalled. "She never did have the nerve, but my goodness, she sure loved it."

In return, Arthur asked Solidad to explain to him how she'd gotten into contests and how she faired with them. Of course she was too humble to admit she was as good as she was, which Arthur suspected, and he demanded she show him her ribbons over a fit of disbelieving laughter. Solidad blushed a little when she pulled out her two ribbon cases; one from her first season in Hoenn, the other from her recent adventures in Sinnoh.

She explained to him she'd wanted to take a bit of time off, come up with some new approaches and get back to serious competing in Kanto's upcoming season.

"See, when Hoenn's circuit for the year ends, Kanto's begins a few short weeks later," Solidad explained. "I went to Sinnoh and competed looking for a bit of inspiration, and I think I found it. I've been having a lot of fun with my Pokémon getting ready for next season after the Grand Festival, and they've all been working so hard, so we decided to come into town and come watch Drew compete in this contest."

This prompted Arthur to ask about Drew; who he was and how they came to be friends, to which Solidad relayed the story.

"You two sound quite close," Arthur commented as he finished off the last of his coffee. "Could he perhaps be someone special?"

"Oh gosh, no," Solidad laughed lightly. "He's like my little brother. Before this season, I don't think he even realized other girls existed. He's always been all about contests and competing. There is one girl who's managed to steal some of his attention, but I'm just sitting from the sidelines trying to let him figure out his feelings for her at the moment. If he doesn't make a move soon, though, I'll definitely have to intervene and help him out!"

"Regardless, he's a lucky young man to have someone so caring looking out for him," Arthur said.

Next thing they knew, they were commentating on the contest from the first row in the audience. And when Drew's turn for his appeal came, Solidad informed him this was her friend they had come to watch, and that he wouldn't be disappointed.

She was right.

Arthur couldn't find a single thing to talk down throughout Drew's performance like he had all the others. Drew had been more impressive than Solidad had said, and Arthur had to hold back tears as he wondered how his wife would have felt about the performance as well. He felt new life born in him; the excitement of his old days returning in ways that they hadn't ever inside of that cave. He knew that some how, some way, Elaine had wanted this; that his life didn't need to end when hers did, and that she wanted him to feel this happiness and excitement again even after she was gone.

The gentle and kind spirit from Kanto had taught him that, and he didn't know how to repay her; only that he absolutely had to.

* * *

The first battle couldn't have been anymore in his favor.

Drew was matched up against a boy named Chris, who had registered a Golem as his battle Pokémon. According to the official rules, no Pokémon could be switched out once it had been officially registered, and because of that, Drew and his grass type had a major advantage against the rock-ground type.

Chris seemed to realize this as well.

The battle had been an easy one: much easier than Drew had anticipated. It was clear that Chris had been nervous to face Drew, but even more so when the odds were stacked so high against him from the beginning. The boy couldn't have predicted that he'd face Drew's signature Pokémon in the battle rounds, as Drew was known to pair himself with Roselia in appeals. Now, thanks to an unexpected risk on Drew's part, Chris' points were plummeting by the second.

Not to say Drew wasn't losing a few points of his own, but compared to his opponent, he had almost double of the score remaining. But still, he could tell he and Roselia had Chris on the ropes.

Roselia was in front of Drew, arms extended and slightly panting after firing off yet another magical leaf attack.

"Keep it up, Roselia, you're doing great!" Drew encouraged, waiting to see what his opponent was going to do.

"Alright, Golem, use earthquake, and combine it with tackle!" Chris exclaimed, a little panic evident in his voice.

Golem set his feet firmly and the stage began to shake violently. Roselia swayed, unable to gain solid balance, and her opponent slammed into her, a direct hit. Drew's points lowered to about 75 percent.

Drew bit the inside of his cheek; with just over a minute of the battle remaining, he wanted to get this knockout before he lost anymore points, and he had an idea.

"Roselia, use petal dance, full power, let's go!" he ordered.

She instantly knew what Drew was planning, and just like that, Roselia began spinning and flooding the air with pink petals and sweet scents. Soon after, she vanished among the shower of beautiful petals. Both Chris and his Golem jumped back, shocked to have lost sight of the Pokémon that had been before them mere seconds prior.

"And here's Drew's signature petal dance!" Lilian announced eagerly. "I don't know about you folks, but I can't spot Roselia anymore! What a gorgeous vanishing act Drew and his Pokémon have put on!"

"Go–Golem! Stay alert! Keep looking for her and be careful!" Chris was squinting, trying desperately to find the hidden Pokémon in the hurricane of flowers.

Not even Drew himself could see her amidst the flurry of petals, but he knew that she knew what to do. When he counted to five in his head, his hand shot out before him.

"Combine it with magical leaf!"

Just as Drew knew she would, Roselia appeared behind Golem, her arms aimed directly at him.

She shouted as she launched a furious assault of glowing leafs, which seemed to attract the petals showering down around them. The combination hit Golem before he could even turn around, and he landed on the ground unable to stand back up.

The judge displayed X-marks on their score screens, and the timer stopped with 28 seconds remaining. The crowd screamed in exhilaration.

Drew let out a small breath, the battle finally over, and smirked to his Roselia as she skipped back towards him clearly pleased with her performance and still high on the adrenaline of victory.

"Perfect as always," Drew told her, kneeling before her and patting her on the head while avoiding her poison barb.

She seemed delighted, and nodded in thanks.

"Golem, return," he heard Chris call from the opposite side of the battlefield.

In good sportsmanship, they met halfway and shook hands. Chris wouldn't meet his eyes, but muttered something about it being a "great match" and "good luck in the next battle." That's what Drew assumed, though. He couldn't really be sure.

"And that's that; our first battle is done! Drew is heading for the final stage, but now we're gonna keep the heat turned up with our next battle between Amber and Tucker! Let's give them a warm welcome as they come on out!"

Drew found Solidad in the crowd one more time before he turned to walk back to the locker room.

She threw him a thumbs up, and he nodded, Roselia pulling him along.

* * *

It came down to Drew against Amber in the final round.

She had proved to be a worthy and clever opponent in her match. Her Rapidash's – who she apparently referred to as just "Dash" – strength seemed to be matched by its blinding speed, and Drew knew he and Roselia were going up against a fierce opponent.

The tables had seemed to turn on him as well. Where he held the advantage in the first battle, he was now facing the exact opposite situation. And it made him a little uneasy, but he decided to ignore it. His Roselia could handle herself against anything. He just had to be sure to handle himself.

Meanwhile, Solidad and Arthur were up in the stands discussing Drew's opponent just as intently.

"She's raised her Pokémon very well," Arthur observed. "I wonder how your friend will handle this match. His first battle, his opponent was heavy and slow, and he had a clear upper hand in regards to type matching. Now it's completely reversed: he has to account for the speed and type-weakness he's facing."

"Mhmm," Solidad hummed studied Amber as her and her Rapidash waved to the crowd, smiling as Tucker and his Seviper exited.

"You don't seem all that worried about your friend?" Arthur looked at her, puzzled.

She just turned and looked back at him, confidence burning in her eyes. She had watched the same battle Arthur had, and she knew that Drew could work his way around almost any obstacle in a contest when he was 100 percent focused. She'd never seen him lose when he wasn't 100 percent invested; his only losses came from contests where his thoughts were preoccupied.

This time around, Solidad knew there was nothing – or rather, no one – there to take Drew's concentration off of the contest. There wasn't anyone there he was unknowingly trying to impress. There was only one fact that was on Drew's mind this time around.

There was only one coordinator standing between Drew and what he wanted most in that moment: that final ribbon to bring him to the Grand Festival.

"He's going to win," she said, totally sure.

* * *

"We've got five minutes set on the timer and now it's time so let's get busy!"

Lilian had to shout into her headset microphone so her voice could be heard over the crowd. With the performance Amber had given in her battle, and the fame Drew already held to his name, the match was stirring hysteria in the crowd. Lilian couldn't remember the last time she'd seen this much energy outside of a Grand Festival. The Hoenn Contest Circuit was truly something special.

The clock ticked from five minutes to 4:59, and the battle had begun.

"This is it, Dash; stage time!"

"Roselia, let's go!"

A mighty burst of red glow and heat exploded from Amber's Pokéball, and the sweet smell of roses surrounded by sparkles burst out from Drew's. The two Pokémon stared each other down for a few moments while Drew and Amber locked eyes as well. The tension in the room was high and for just one split moment, everything else seemed to fade away for Drew.

This was it; this was where his tough season had led him. This was the last hurdle he had to jump over to get to his dream. This skilled coordinator and her mighty Rapidash stood between him and his Grand Festival.

And Drew's need to win burned in his chest hotter than the flames coming off the Rapidash before him.

He looked down to his Roselia, who in turn looked back to face him as well, and she nodded, feeling just as strongly as he did, because she wanted this too. It was a stern nod, as if she was conveying a message to him; one that, thanks to the bond he shared with his starter Pokémon, he understood completely.

 _Let's win this._

Amber made the first move.

"Dash, use quick attack!" Amber called. "Circle that Roselia!"

Drew had seen this Pokémon's speed on the monitor back stage while watching her first battle. Seeing it firsthand was a completely different experience.

The fire horse's speed was utterly terrifying. Drew had never seen a Pokémon who could move that quickly. Roselia's head looked back and forth trying to get a good visual lock on her opponent, but couldn't seem to see him. She held her ground, awaiting her orders.

"Follow up with flamethrower!"

Before Drew could blink, a massive tornado of flames had surrounded his Roselia. He dad to cover his face with his arms to block out the heat, and could hear her calling out in pain from the inside the inferno. His points fell.

"Roselia, break up that combination with magical leaf!" Drew hastily ordered. "Shoot your leaves counterclockwise against the fire!"

The tornado was slowly torn apart as bits of glowing leaves could be seen breaking up and through the fire. Roselia was revealed in the middle, spinning rapidly and shooting off the glowing leaves, which began to turn orange and red from the heat around them. It reminded Drew of Savannah's swift and ember combination, and it gave him a quick idea.

"Keep it up, Roselia, don't stop!"

She kept going, shooting off more and more leaves until the spiral of fire was totally broken up. The leaves she had shot off began to burst into flames and rained down all around Roselia, effectively striking and slowing down Rapidash. When she ceased spinning, Roselia posed herself gracefully, a hard glare on her face and a few visible scratches. How she'd escaped with such little damage saved Drew a lot of points, while Amber's fell just above his own.

"Dash, keep running!" Amber wasted no time in continuing. "Build your speed back up with agility and a drill run attack!"

"Roselia, try to do–"

Drew wasn't fast enough in his counter call, and Roselia took a nasty hit from the charging fire horse. Roselia rolled across the stage and skidded to a stop before him, struggling to stand back up.

He knew if he was going to have any chance of winning this battle, he was going to have to seriously slow down that Rapidash.

"Roselia, stun spore!" Drew called out.

Orange paralysis powder spread through the air, and Drew watched how Amber would try to counter.

"Just keep running, Dash!" she called, a knowing look on her features which disarmed Drew a bit.

She seemed totally at ease with the possibility of her Pokémon facing paralysis, which would seriously stunt her almost instantly, unless…unless she'd dealt with this before.

To Drew's amazement, Dash's speed allowed him to pass right through the stun spore virtually unaffected. The wind from the speed dispersing the spray and Drew had to come up with a better strategy, as he was bleeding points and was almost to the halfway mark, where as Amber still held a tight lead.

Roselia was bouncing on stage before him, keeping her eyes on the trotting powerhouse of fire and speed. She waited to see what Drew could come up with and focused on staying clear of any attacks.

Drew knew that solar beam was his most powerful attack, and though it would have little effect on the fire-type damage-wise, he knew it was a very appealing move that could help even out the point scale. The problem was, if he stopped to let Roselia try to charge up her ultimate move, that Rapidash would take him out.

"Let's go with magical leaf again!" Drew tried, getting a bit desperate to buy himself some time to think.

Magical leaf was usually a safe bet in most situations; it was an attack that was extremely difficult to dodge, no matter how fast the target was. Drew knew if he kept Amber busy with dodging, he would lose fewer points than taking direct hits. On top of that, he knew Roselia couldn't take too many more direct hits. Not from a fire-type. A quick glance at the scoreboard told him he only had three minutes left to turn this match around.

"Just outrun those leaves, Dash!" Amber commanded, just as Drew thought she would. "Let him cost himself the points if that's what he wants."

She knew she had the upper hand; Drew could practically feel her overconfidence rolling off of her. She stood opposite of him, relaxed with her hands clasped behind her head.

The speed of her Pokémon was incredible. Even now, well into the battle, he still couldn't get over it. Amber had obviously raised her Pokémon very well and trained hard with him to achieve the speed stats he was seeing. Rapidash glided across the stage, outrunning Roselia's most accurate attack, and Drew could see his Pokémon getting increasingly frustrated. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his points had just hit under the halfway mark while Amber's stayed solid in the 75 percent range.

In the crowd, Arthur glanced at Solidad, who didn't seem phased by the current state of the battle at all. She could feel his stare on her and addressed him.

"Don't worry," she said without facing him. "He'll figure it out. Watch."

Drew observed the Rapdiash as it wouldn't let up, his thoughts felt like they were sifting through possibility after possibility for combinations that could possibly stop his opponent as fast as his opponent was running.

 _Running._

 _Running!_

"Roselia!" Drew called, a new air of confident surging through him and his usual smirk appearing on his face. "Magical leaf one more time–"

"You can't be serious!" Amber laughed from the other side of the stage.

"–at the ground, go!"

"Wait, what?"

It was a call that seemed to confuse everyone in the contest hall except for three individuals.

First, Drew seemed to instantly relax right after he made the order. Second, Solidad leaned forward, a huge smile on her face as she knew this was the turn in the battle she'd been expecting. Third, Roselia seemed to understand Drew's new strategy as she launched a new wave of her leaf assault towards Rapidash's legs.

Within five seconds, the entire scale of power in the battle shifted. It took one second for Roselia to know where to aim her attack. Another second to fire it off. The third second, Rapidash was struck in the legs and tripped over itself, landing on the ground with a hard blow. The fourth second, both Amber's face and her points fell harshly. The fifth second, Drew was already calling for another attack.

"Our turn," he breathed, then shouted "Alright, let's try stun spore again, and mix it with petal dance!"

It was Roselia's time to showcase her own speed. She shot off stun spore quickly, mixing in petal dance; a combination which held a dual purpose. One, mixing the two attacks would help spread the toxin spores more quickly and two, it would also cause damage where as stun spore on its own could not hurt the opponent.

"Drew fights back with a devastating and potent combination!" Lilian jumped up and down, just as invested in this battle as everyone else in the arena.

The orange mist reached Rapidash before he could fully stand to gallop out of the way, and the fire horse's legs buckled under him as shook on the ground, unable to move.

"No way!" Amber cried in disbelief. "Dash, c'mon, you gotta get up!"

Even with as much powder as Roselia had spread, Rapidash managed to stand up on extremely shaky legs. Amber's points stopped just under Drew's. For the first time in the battle, he held the lead, but just barley.

There was no time left to do anything but his one final attack.

"Roselia, start charging up," he spoke only loud enough for her to hear.

She nodded and extended her arms, pulling in as much energy from the artificial light as quickly she could. At the same time, Drew looked over to Amber. All signs of her previous relaxation were gone, and she was now hunched over with clenched fists, speaking rapidly and probably motivationally to her struggling Rapidash.

"Dash, I just need you to pull out one more attack for me! One more hit and you can win this!"

"Roselia, it's all up to you now. I know you can do it!"

"There's only 10 seconds left in this match!" Lilian called out, eager to see what would happen in these final moments that would determine the outcome.

Both Amber and Drew extended their fingers out, pointing at the other's Pokémon.

"Dash–"

"Roselia–"

"Fire blast! Give it everything you've got!"

"Solar beam! Full power!"

The two opposite and enormous blasts of power collided into each other, neither able to outdo the other and staying perfectly even in the center of the stage. The light coming off of the two attacks was blinding, and everyone had either shielded their eyes or looked away.

"Push, Dash, push!"

"Don't let up, Roselia!"

Roselia screamed at the top of her lungs putting all of her energy into her final attack. Rapidash did the same, breathing out more fire than Amber had ever seen him produce in any attack, ever. When the power became too much, the middle of the stage was engulfed in a huge explosion. Smoke billowed up and filled the stage. Drew couldn't see his Pokémon, and Amber couldn't find Dash either.

Through the smoke, the loud sound of the buzzer rang out, signaling the official end of the match. Drew wasted one second trying to see the screen, but couldn't make it out, and decided he needed to find his Roselia.

"Roselia!" he called out, taking careful steps and feeling his way through the blinding smoke.

He could head Amber calling out for her Pokémon as well.

"My oh my, folks, now that was some serious power!" Lilian could be heard over the speakers, though she was just as invisible to the crowd as everyone on stage was. "Don't be alarmed though; we've got everything under control! Please give us a moment as our wonderful stage maintenance assistants will be here momentarily to help clear the air, literally!"

Seconds later, the smoke was being blown away as stage crew members entered the room with Swellows, using gust attacks to clear away the smoke.

There, on the ground before him, was his Roselia, knocked out from the powerful blast. Across the way, he could see the same thing had happened to Rapidash.

"Roselia!" he said, scooping her up into his arms. "Are you okay?"

Her eyes fluttered open a bit and she smiled weakly, acknowledging him and trying to tell him she was okay when she so clearly was not. Amber had fallen onto her knees in front of Dash, lifting his head gently into her lap. He, too, grunted and nuzzled into her lap a little. Both Pokemon were wiped out and exhausted.

"Wow, it looks like we have a double knockout!" Lilian announced, looking back and forth between Drew and Amber. "It's up to the judges now to determine the winner of the contest!"

The multiple Swellow, having cleared all the fog from the stage, flew up towards the ceiling to clear away the remaining smoke from the big screen.

The entire audience gasped collectively when Drew's face lit up the board. Amber's mouth fell wide open and she glared hard at the video screen before looking down at Drew himself. She did several double takes, as if she was expecting to turn away and see her face appear instead. But no; just by a slim margin, Drew's points were higher than her own. She had lost, and she couldn't believe it.

Drew didn't blame her entirely; he was struggling to believe it as well.

"Well there you have it!" Lilian said, walking over to Drew and raising his free arm while the other held Roselia against his chest. "The winner of the Mossdeep R3 Contest is…Drew Hayden of LaRousse City!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Amber yelled from the floor. "How?!"

"Your Pokémon are both in excellent shape…" Mossdeep's Nurse Joy smiled sadly down at the angry girl, who looked like she was ready to either cry or strangle someone.

"But when it came down to it, the fact that Drew's Roselia was able to output such an impressive solar beam with absolutely no assistance from the sun…" Mr. Ribona, the contest committee's vice president and stand-in judge for Mr. Contesta supplied. "That was a true showcase of elegance and power mixed."

"No way!" Amber shrieked. "No way, no way, _no way_!"

Amber clearly wasn't someone who took losses well. She hastily pulled out Rapidash's Pokéball, returned her injured Pokémon, and took a second to look Drew in the eye.

In that moment, Drew knew that if looks could kill, they'd be scraping his corpse off the main stage.

She never made any advance to the center of the stage. She simply stormed away, refusing to shake Drew's hand in the end. Drew wasn't too offended by it; it was a tough fought battle and definitely a hard loss for her. Plus, if he was being honest, he didn't want to get too close to her in those moments for fear of his own personal safety.

Lilian seemed momentarily stunned at the lack of manners. She watched as Amber disappeared down the hallway without so much as a goodbye, and turned back to Drew. He only shrugged, and looked down at his Roselia. She was looking back up at his with tired, curious eyes; eyes that asked a huge question.

 _Why aren't you excited?_

And in that moment, it hit him.

All of it hit him, like tidal waves washing over a beach in a hurricane. Every emotion came crashing into him at once: happiness, pride, anxiety, elation, excitement, exhilaration, delight, and realization.

"You did it," Drew could barely force out a whisper; he felt like he was suffocating. "Roselia, we're going to the Grand Festival because of you."

Lilian must have noticed the change in his attitude, and deemed it the perfect moment to announce Mossdeep's Contest champion.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for today's winner, Drew! Our lovely judges will now present him and his Pokémon with the Mossdeep R3 Ribbon!"

Drew had never heard so much noise in his life; he thought his head was going to explode with how loud the crowd became. He could feel their screams vibrating through his limbs.

Drew blinked a few times and reached into his pocket for Masquerain's Pokéball. He released his first round partner as Mr. Ribona approached him, congratulated him, and placed the ribbon into his hands.

"Congratulations, and good luck at the Grand Festival, you three," Mr. Ribona smiled and nodded to them, backing away to give them space as a spotlight overtook Drew and his Pokémon.

Confetti began to rain down on them, then. Masquerain landed on Drew's shoulder, and Drew placed the ribbon on Roselia as she lay in his arms smiling.

"As many of you probably already know, this is Drew's fifth and final ribbon of the season!" Lilian announced. "This incredible young man is officially on his way to compete in the Hoenn Grand Festival!"

Drew finally looked up and looked all around at the thousands of people screaming for him. He had never felt more humbled and determined in his life. There was no stopping him now; he was going to the Grand Festival, and he was going to win it. With a smile taking over his face, he raised his free arm and waved to the crowd.

Eventually, his eyes fell on Solidad as she, just like everyone else, was standing and applauding.

Drew could help but roll his eyes when he noticed she was screaming just as loudly as the rest of them.

* * *

"I have something I want to give you."

Solidad looked down to Arthur curiously as they sat outside the contest hall, waiting for Drew to exit. The sun was starting to lower in the sky as the day grew later and later. The contest had ended over an hour ago, but she knew Drew was getting his Roselia looked over by the Nurse Joy inside. That was the real reason Nurse Joy's were asked to judge at these contests; so they could inspect the Pokémon's health after particularly grueling contest battles.

It was a process that shouldn't have taken this long, but she knew that on top of that, Drew was also trapped inside the hall trying to avoid any and all media, from reporters to photographers. Drew hated attention from the press.

"You've already given me more than enough with the bells and agreeing to come to the contest with me," Solidad told him sweetly.

"No, no, this is something entirely different," he said, standing up to fish for something in his pockets. "This is something far more important."

Solidad seemed confused and waited. He finally found what he was looking for, pulled a Pokéball out of his pocket and held it out to her. She didn't understand what he was offering to her, so she slowly reached out and let him drop the capsule into her palm.

"I've decided I want you to raise my Butterfree for me," he told her. "Take her on your travels and enter her in contests."

"Oh, Arthur, no, I couldn't accept this," Solidad started to protest, but Arthur held up his hand to stop her.

"Before my wife passed away, I had caught this Pokémon for her so that she might one day fulfill her dream of entering a contest," he explained. "I want you to take this Pokémon now and fulfill my wife's dream for me."

She pursed her lips, so torn. Solidad was usually so sure of herself in everything that she did. Now here she stood, unsure of whether or not she could accept something so meaningful.

"I spoke to Butterfree last night about this," he told her. "She's ready to go, she wants to go. Living with an old man isn't the life this Pokémon deserves, and aside from my wife, I've never met anyone as caring of a person as you are. You and this Pokémon deserve each other, and I won't take no for an answer."

Seeing that there was no way to talk him out of it, Solidad squeezed the Pokéball and looked at it for a few moments before nodding to Arthur.

"I promise I will do my best in raising this Pokémon, for both you and Elaine," she told him.

"I know you will," he smiled.

She stuck the Pokéball in her side pocket with all of her other Pokémon and felt her smile stretch across her face before she leaned in and hugged Arthur, who in turn hugged her back. They stayed like that for a few moments before they pulled apart.

She was still smiling when Drew finally walked up to their bench, mumbling to himself about how he hated cameras when he noticed her.

"Why are you smiling _that_ way?" he asked her, his brows furrowed.

"Let's just say I have a new goal of pulling off a _better_ silver wind than yours. Oh, and happy birthday, kiddo."

Drew blinked a few times, Solidad laughed, and Arthur shook his head, remembering his younger days.

* * *

As per Drew's request, Solidad kept his birthday plans extremely simple.

There were a few days when she considered going all out despite his request, because everyone deserved to go all out and be celebrated on their birthday, but after seeing how distracted he had been the days leading up to the contest and how relieved he was that he'd won, she thought better of it. He deserved a laid back birthday, because it was what he wanted.

Two days ago, when she'd gotten back from her from first expedition of Shoal Cave, she'd made a request at the front desk in the lobby of Drew's hotel to reserve one of the hotel's four conference lounges. They were large, spacious rooms, generally reserved for business meetings when major conferences were held in town. The rooms featured large televisions for presentations, multiple chairs and tables for people to work at and numerous comfortable sofas for relaxing and taking breaks. There were even private bathrooms. It was private and it was perfect; exactly what Drew would have wanted.

She also made reservations for food to be delivered to the room before they'd gotten there, so they could avoid going out in public as much as possible, because as she theorized, Drew would be even more of a local celebrity after winning the contest. She'd experienced the same thing in many towns where she'd competed in the past.

Her prediction came true. Even walking through the streets, people kept noticing him, and attempting to talk to him. Many asked for pictures and autographs; others just wanted to say hello to Mossdeep's hottest coordinator. She could tell he hated the attention, but kept his manners and politely answered as many questions as he could handle and respectfully declined signing or posing for anything.

At one point on their walk back to his hotel, just after making through another small wave of his fans, she informed Drew that she'd moved to stay at his hotel on this last night, and they were going to celebrate his birthday there so he could keep out of the public eye for a while.

Originally, she'd invited Arthur to tag along, as she figured Drew wouldn't mind, but he declined the offer. He'd told her he had a bit of time to meet Drew and congratulate him with her outside of the contest hall, but then he had to get home to take care of his waiting Pokémon, and that he was 'too old' to party with the young people. When she explained it wasn't going to be much of a party, he insisted they spend the time together without him anyway, as she was leaving for Kanto in the next morning and they hadn't seen each other in three days.

Drew was a bit confused at first to meet the old man Solidad had befriended, but was polite and cordial as ever when he did. Arthur told him his performance was top notch, that he looked forward to seeing him compete in the Grand Festival and that he was lucky to have Solidad as a friend; the first two of which Drew thanked him for, and the last bit Drew agreed with. And with that, Arthur took his leave, Solidad promising she'd stay in touch with him, and him promising he would watch her compete on television, and hopefully one day make it to Kanto to see her in person.

"I still can't believe he gave you his Butterfree," Drew had said as they walked, their hotel finally in view after what had been the longest and most frequently interrupted walk of his life. "I can't wait to see what you'll come up with in contests for it."

"I've never had a bug Pokémon before," Solidad confessed. "After the way you and Masquerain performed today, I can't wait to try out some combinations."

They stopped at the front desk upon entering the hotel. Solidad had to check in, and neither of them were surprised when the receptionist congratulated Drew on winning contest. News in this town spread quickly, apparently. What surprised Drew was that the man behind the desk also wished him a happy birthday, handed another card key – one that wasn't for a typical room – over to Solidad, and Drew side-eyed her suspiciously.

"It's just going to be us, I promise," Solidad laughed at his expression. "Lighten up and learn to like you own birthday. You're 12 now, time to be a big boy."

"I am a 'big boy,'" Drew whined mockingly, to which Solidad just shook her head and accepted the keys.

They made their way over to the last door down the hall. When Solidad opened the door and Drew shuffled in before her, the smell of chicken alfredo and other delicious foods instantly greeting his nose. His stomach churned and he realized how hungry he was, which Solidad had expected. He never took proper care of himself when he was in contest mode.

She guided him over to a large sofa placed in front of a huge television screen hanging on the wall, a buffet of foods spread all across the table before the couch and a few cupcakes on a cake stand as the centerpiece. Each cupcakes looked like a rose, and Drew would have snorted at the pun had he not been so hungry in those moments.

Solidad then took out her Pokéballs and released her team – even Lapras, because the conference room was big enough – with all of them happily greeting Drew. He took the hint and released Roselia, Masquerain and Vibrava as well.

Solidad's new Butterfree took a few moments to hover away from everyone around her, trying to process the change in scenery. True to his word, Arthur had extensively discussed with his Pokémon that he wanted her to go with Solidad, and the Butterfree in question had agreed that she wanted to go. Now, she found herself a bit overwhelmed surrounded by multiple new faces all at once. She strayed a few feet away, trying to absorb it all.

"I figured you and your Pokémon could appreciate a dinner with all your favorite foods and some privacy after having all the attention on you for a whole day," she explained, taking a seat on the sofa; Drew parroted her actions.

Solidad's new Butterfree eventually fluttered down to rest on Solidad's lap, still clearly unused to all its new company. She patted her head a little, telling her it was okay and that Butterfree should get to know her new friends. The Butterfree looked up at its new trainer, and crawled over to rest of Drew's lap. He seemed a bit surprised at first, but patted the Pokémon down regardless and greeted her gently.

"Yeah, definitely," Drew smiled. "I don't like admitting it, but I do love chicken alfredo."

"Well this is all here for you. Everybody, help yourselves."

Solidad and Drew tended to their Pokémon, fixing them all huge plates of food as there was plenty to go around. The Pokémon, especially Drew's Masquerain and Roselia, happily tucked into their dinners, tired after a long week of training and what felt like an even longer day of competing. Solidad took a moment to praise them both in their performance, and they thanked her in their own language.

When everyone was set and Drew and Solidad had their own plates organized, they both plopped back down on the sofa, and she held out a remote control for the television bringing up a menu on the screen. She was scrolling through the options, all with different labels.

 _Proposal for new tax cuts in Fortree._

 _Instructions on how to invest in time-shares._

 _Business merger: Pokéfossils Research of Fallarbor Town LLC and the Devon Corporation._

Drew watched and ate as Solidad scrolled through the preset business presentation titles and videos from the business meetings that had obviously been hosted in this room. He wondered what she was searching for while he chewed his food and read over the options. The food was delicious; some of the best chicken alfredo he'd ever eaten in his life, and he'd eaten quite a bit of it, because it was his favorite food. She knew him too well, and he took a bite of a garlic knot.

"I asked the staff to record something for us to watch," she answered without looking at him, as if she could read his mind.

Eventually she came down to the last option on the menu: a video recording with her name as the title. She clicked the play button and an aerial shot of what he recognized as Lilycove City. His eyes lit up instantly, because it had been too long since they'd done this together.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome once again to the world famous Lilycove Coordinator Contest here in beautiful Lilycove City!" Vivian's familiar voice played over the sky view of the beach town.

The camera switched then to a shot of inside the hall, and a close up shot of Vivian with a banner reading "live" displayed across the bottom of the recording. Vivian was going through the typical introduction process, introducing the judges and explaining the rules of the contest.

"It's been a long while since we watched a contest together and critiqued it," Solidad told him, settling back into the sofa and twisting some noodles around her fork. "This contest was earlier today at the same time are yours was, so I had it recorded so we could watch together."

"You nailed it," Drew smirked over at her. "Really, Sol, thanks. Best birthday ever."

"There's a bit more to come," she admitted. "But for now, let's do what we do best and watch this contest."

Drew nodded, turning his attention back to the screen and stuffing his mouth with more noodles.

"Okay, let's jump right into the opening round competition!" Vivian exclaimed. "Introducing coordinator number one; it's May!"

Drew nearly choked on his food.

He coughed a few times to clear his throat, and Solidad quirked an eyebrow at him before he waved his hands dismissively claiming he was alright. He didn't take his attention off the screen; his eyes were both curious and skeptical, looking over May and absorbing as much detail from the video as he could.

There she was, clad in her usual red and standing on stage looking fiercely determined. He hadn't seen her since her meltdown in Rubello Town, and almost couldn't believe she was there to compete. But there was something different about her stance, and the way she smiled and held her Pokéball before she started her act.

Both Roselia and Masquerain approached. Roselia took a seat next to Drew on the sofa and Masquerain landed on the back of it, both Pokémon intent on watching the performance. Each of them recognized this coordinator, and they knew Drew was always extremely interested in her performances.

Out of the corner of her eye, Solidad noticed Drew unconsciously leaning forward ever so slightly. In truth, she hadn't expected to see May in the contest either, much less going first in the appeal round. It was a happy coincidence to say the least. She looked back to the screen, eager to see May's appeal for herself.

"Well look who it is," Solidad thought aloud.

Drew only hummed in response.

"May is well established as a coordinator, with two ribbons already to her credit," Vivian finished up her introduction. "All eyes are on coordinator number one, as she begins!"

With a nod from Vivian, May knew it was time to start.

The camera panned back to May as she called out her Pokémon.

"Combusken, let's give 'em a show!"

Her Pokémon flipped in the air before landing in a premeditated pose; it was a perfect entrance so far, and her Combusken looked ready to start.

It really did look like an impressive Pokémon. Drew had known she had a Torchic, but it seemed like just a baby, easily scared and confused and always getting into trouble, so she had never competed with him. Now, here that same Pokémon stood, evolved and having captured the stage with its powerful and slightly daunting appearance alone in its first ever appearance in a contest.

"Way to go, Combusken!" May cheered, which was refreshing to see after her last performance. "Now, follow with fire spin!"

Combusken sprang high into the air and unleashed a mass of flames, swirling them into a vortex of a beautifully cultivated twister.

At least, that's what it started out as.

In mere fractions of seconds, it became very obvious just how powerful May's Combusken was, and how much energy it clearly had stored up and was releasing in the attack. The flames, though still retaining their cone shape, grew larger and larger until they were too big, and Combusken's control was slipping. But it couldn't stop itself; this energy and this power couldn't be contained.

Solidad and Drew were both silent as they leaned forward and watched. Solidad was too shocked and scared to speak and Drew's face had gone utterly pale. Not even their Pokémon could move as they all watched this massive firestorm grow.

The camera panned to May, who was advancing towards the fire much to Drew and Solidad's growing horror. Her face was clearly panic-stricken as she held out her arms and shouted, "Combusken, that's too much!"

This clearly hadn't been her plan from the start, because her expression was so horrified and unsure of what to do, a sharp contrast to her expression when she'd first taken the stage.

A flame extended to the right of May, and she tripped over her own feet trying to avoid being hit. When she fell to her knees, some members of the audience screamed. Vivian's gasp could be heard over the loud speaker and the judges all shot to their feet, unsure of what to do. The fire was heading directly for May.

Solidad held her breath with wide eyes and Drew gritted his teeth glaring at the screen.

 _Move, May! You gotta move! Now!_

Then suddenly, everything turned around.

Combusken was somehow able to stop itself, and was jumped in front of its trainer, arms outstretched protectively. May's face was shocked for less than a second before she called for Combusken to use peck. The Pokémon wasted no time in diving straight for the oncoming flames, hitting them head on and dispersing them with its powerful beak. The fire broke apart into small slivers and safely rained down all around the stage.

May seemed to fall back into a comfortable stance, and tried to recover her appeal.

"Don't stop, use your fire spin to gather up all those flames!" she ordered, much to everyone's shock.

But Drew could see the look on her face and in her eyes; she was confident in her partner. She knew he could control himself this time. She believed in her Pokémon.

Combusken held the ball of flames in his hand before May ordered for him to break it apart with a sky uppercut. The flames died away slowly as they showered around her Pokémon, making him shine. It was completely different ending than expected. It was hard to tell that the performance started out so disastrously.

"What a wonderful contest opening as May and Combusken turn out a beautiful performance!" Vivian said, clearly relieved to have the situation resolved.

Solidad finally exhaled and fell back into the seat with a thud. The performance had ended and she couldn't even believe the amount of relief that had flooded through her knowing that May was safe.

The judges awarded her decent scores, except for Mr. Contesta, who gave her a 7.1. He had explained that letting her Pokémon lose control of its attack showed a lack of connection between May and her Combusken, even though the rest of her performance went well and was mostly articulated.

Solidad was empathetic. As she could tell, this was Combusken's debut performance, and it was extremely new for him and May to work together like that.

May had scored a 23.6 overall; her worst score in a contest appeal round ever. She looked completely deflated and understanding all at once, and nodded.

Vivian also confirmed to the audience that in accordance with standard contest safety regulations, May and Combusken would be examined backstage by on stage medical experts to make sure there were no injuries acquired and that they were both healthy and able to compete should she advance to the next round.

"Well that was something to see," Solidad said. "That Combusken of hers sure is powerful. It's a relief that no one got hurt."

Her comment was met with silence. Solidad turned over to look at Drew. He was still leaning forward with his back muscles clearly tense, his lips pursed in a tight light and a sharp, piercing glare aimed at the screen as May bowed and left the stage. She looked at him for a moment to read his emotions, and try to figure out why he seemed so mad all of the sudden.

But Solidad realized that wasn't anger in Drew's eyes.

It was fear; it was concern and shock and hurt and trepidation for what he had just seen. It was alarm for having almost witnessed this girl get severely hurt.

It wasn't until a few moments later when the next contestant came on to compete that Drew wordlessly leaned back into his seat, picked up his fork and placed a few noodles in his mouth, eyes still somewhat dark and focused on the screen.

They didn't speak again for the rest of the appeals round.

Not even when the ridiculous trainer with the Chimecho showcased the oddest appeal Solidad had ever seen, and some how ended up with a perfect score. Not even Solidad had ever pulled a perfect score in a contest before.

With the unusual ending to an unusual appeal round, May had managed to squeeze into the last spot in the battle round.

Lilycove had certainly proved it would be an interesting contest for sure.

It had certainly shut Drew up.

* * *

May truly was an aggressive battler.

She more or less sailed through to the final battle of the contest without much trouble, as it seemed the coordinators she faced weren't very accustomed to such powerful and dominating moves.

Solidad felt like she was watching this girl grow into the coordinating girl at her own pace, and she was still learning how to handle everything, including battling. Drew had revealed to Solidad that May came from a gym-oriented family here in Hoenn, and it didn't surprise her to see how much of what she had probably learned from watching her father battle, as well as traveling with someone who was competing in the Hoenn league really impacted how May fought and came up with strategies.

At the same time, she was also creative, and was good at coming up with ideas and combinations on the spot. When things didn't work for her, she thought up a solution and worked around her competition, using unexpected attacks to turn the tide in her favor.

Having a powerhouse of a Pokémon also helped as she and her Combusken took the contest with blazing hot fury and determination.

May wanted and needed this ribbon, just as much as Drew had wanted and needed the Mossdeep one.

Drew had eventually warmed up and began speaking again. Solidad had noticed this was only after May reappeared on stage for her first battle round, Vivian more than happy to announce that May had cleared her medical examinations perfectly and had sustained no injuries from the rough start of her Combusken's appeal.

"She really likes to stick to physical attacks as opposed to flashy ones," Solidad noted during May's battle with the Chimecho that had earned a perfect score in round one.

"She's always been like that in every contest I've seen her in," Drew agreed. "She has a constant plan of getting in close and hitting hard. I think she's more interested in getting the knockout rather than forcing the points. But she'll win this match."

Solidad looked to him to see if his comment was a compliment or just a statement of fact.

"I've seen this coordinator she'd battling before," he clarified. "She's just in it to mess with May and her friends."

Solidad nodded, and they continued to watch as the battled progressed. True to his prediction, May won easily and advanced to face the girl named Kelly in the final battle.

At first it was a struggle. May successfully countered a few of the opposing Grumpig's attacks, even calling for her Combusken to catch and block a direct iron tail. Things started to get shaky when Kelly fell back on Grumpig's psychic attacks, though, forcing May to rethink and change her strategy.

And change it she did.

May called for a clever use of her Pokémon's fire spin. By aiming at the ceiling, she forced the flames to scatter and rain down on her opponent, much like they had in her appeal performance. With the flames distracting Grumpig, the psychic lock was broken, and both Pokémon were falling to the floor. Grumpig was worn out from holding its attack for so long while trying to withstand Combusken's flames, and was unable to land safely.

That was when May showed her true colors and ordered for Combusken to assist their opponent. Using fire spin to soften blow, Combusken lowered himself and Grumpig onto the floor, causing Kelly's points to dissipate. They landed on the floor just as the timer ran out.

Solidad smiled at the screen while Drew watched, a bit amazed by the events.

It was clear May had done a lot of regrouping since her loss in Rubello Town. In the last contest, May had wanted to do anything to win, including push her own Pokémon past its limits. Now here she was, helping her opponent out in the very end of it.

It was the mark of a great coordinator, and Drew admitted that she deserved that win.

Not because of dumb luck or pure chance. No, May had fought long and hard and earned her victory as any professional coordinator would have done. She looked and acted nothing like the girl he'd seen over a week ago.

He was impressed to say the least.

Solidad and he took some time to discuss the other coordinators they'd seen throughout. They talked about combinations they hated and ones they liked; how they'd change them and what they would have done differently. Ultimately, they both agreed May deserved the win, which somewhat surprised Solidad that she didn't have to fight him on that.

The clock on the wall rang 11 times, meaning it was getting to be late at night, and now with full stomachs after a long day, exhaustion was bound to rear its head any minute.

Shortly after they finished talking, Solidad passed out cupcakes to every one in the room, and all of the Pokémon joined her in singing "happy birthday" to him as he blew out the candle, more than anything just to humor Solidad.

"I have a gift for you," she said as she stood up from the sofa and retrieved a giant package that was wrapped messily, but a neat bow tied on top of it.

Drew raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to comment before Solidad quickly dropped the gift of the sofa next to him.

"I'm not good at wrapping," she agreed before he could speak. "Just open it."

Drew laughed and tore away at the paper slowly. Inside was a basket, filled with numerous items. He looked through each of them slowly and pulling them out one by one.

The first item was a brand new ribbon case with his name engraved on the outside. The case was green and opened outwards at the push of a button. He opened it as saw the empty slots for ribbons; a complete opposite of his second and now fully-filled Hoenn case.

"We both know that even if you win this Grand Festival, you'll be competing in another region as soon as you can," Solidad told him. "There's a ribbon case for your next adventure."

The second item Drew pulled from the basket was a small satchel. Upon untying the top, he saw it contained all sorts of berries, filled up to the top.

"Those I bought for you at the berry farm we stopped at on Route 123," she said.

He looked down below back into the basket and found a small book that had been hidden underneath the sack of berries.

"And that is a guide to making hundreds of different types of Pokéblock," she continued as he flipped through some of the pages quickly.

The next thing he found was a unique little bell, made from seashells and unlike any he'd ever seen before.

"That is an original Mossdeep Shoal Bell," she encouraged him to ring it. "Arthur made it himself; it's got special healing properties for Pokémon in its ring. Obviously this would be banned from use in a contest, but it'll be nice to have around for your Pokémon while you guys train."

Drew didn't think it would ever stop. The basket was filled to the brim with little objects and trinkets all pertaining to contests. He found everything from a new Pokéblock case to special herbal lotions for his Pokémon to increase their shine. It was all so wonderful, and it was the most thoughtful gift he'd ever received.

"So basically," Solidad concluded when he'd finally reached the end. "This is like your Grand Festival readiness kit. It's got everything you'll need to get you and your Pokémon ready to compete in 11 weeks."

"Yeah, 11 weeks," he repeated, still surprised at how it felt to know he was really going for the ribbon cup.

"So lay out the plan for me," Solidad urged. "Tell me what you're going to be doing starting tomorrow."

"I wanted to leave early," he responded. "Get back to the mainland and go do a bit more traveling and working on routines, maybe catch a few contests here or there. This is that time in the season where all the coordinators are going to be getting their last ribbons."

"Right," she agreed. "I assume you'll want to leave much earlier than I'll want to wake up, though."

He pursed his lips again, unsure of how to answer. He loved Solidad and traveling with her had been fun; he'd never want her to believe otherwise. She was his best friend and someone he trusted his life with. He just didn't want to put off his training any longer. If he really was going to win this Grand Festival, he was going to have to be perfect, and perfection called for training to start tomorrow.

Solidad knew that. Of course she did.

"You really worry about offending me too much," she laughed at his silence. "Drew, this is a big deal. This is your first Grand Festival. I get it; I've been there. You want to train and get ready for it as soon as you can.

"I'm heading back to Kanto tomorrow anyway; Pidgeot and I will be flying straight from here. We have different plans and that's okay. You leave as early as you want to, don't worry about me. Really, don't."

Drew looked for any signs of hesitation or something similar to it in her face, but all he found was encouragement.

"Will you be back for the Grand Festival?" he asked her.

She shook her head sadly, much to his dismay.

"The dates don't work for me," she said somewhat sadly. "I'll be in Johto that week. The Kanto Contest Committee asked me and a few other coordinators from Kanto to represent our region at some big contest convention. We're all going to participate in a presentation of what region should host the next Wallace Cup."

"Wow," Drew blurted out. "That's pretty big."

"Not as big as the Grand Festival, but I can't get out of it."

"I understand."

A calm quiet settled over them for a few moments as the reality settled in that this was going to be the last time they'd see each other for a while. It was a sad reality for both of them, but they took comfort in the fact that it wasn't going to be forever.

"This isn't goodbye," she told him, a sincere smile on her face.

"It's see you later," he replied.

They stood up then, and shook hands firmly, because Solidad knew Drew wasn't really a hugger. Their Pokémon also exchanged farewells with each other, and with the coordinators.

After a few moments, Drew and Solidad recalled their Pokémon, Drew picked up his basket, and the two exited the conference room, Solidad stopping at the front desk to drop off the key.

Drew bid Solidad goodnight in the elevator, as his floor was lower than hers was. He turned to look at her one last time before he stepped out.

"Go out there and win this thing," she told him.

"Of course," he smirked to her. "Stay in touch."

"Of course."

With that, he stepped out and watched as the elevator doors slid shut, and heard the beeps as it continued up to the ninth floor without him.

He placed his gifts on the desk once he'd locked the door in his room, and pulled out his backpack to determine how repack everything into his bag so he could leave the next morning. It took a few minutes of creative thinking, but he got to a stopping point where he deemed himself satisfied, so he progressed with his nightly rituals of showering and brushing his teeth and so on.

It was 11:53 p.m. by the time he finally plugged his PokéNav into its charger and collapsed into bed.

There were a few minutes of him lying awake and starring at the ceiling, processing the incredibly long day's events.

Most notably, he'd competed in his first R3 contest, and won against some of the strongest coordinators of Hoenn, especially Amber and her Rapidash. That victory Roselia managed to pull was still beyond words for him, and Masquerain's appeal coming together as well as it did... It was a proud day for him and for his Pokémon. They'd all more than proved they deserved that spot they'd earned in the Grand Festival.

Then there was Solidad's little birthday surprise for him. It was absolutely perfect for him; not too big and what he loved. He got to watch a contest with Solidad instead of discussing one hours later, which was a nice change. The lack of coffee was a little different, but it was still nice just to be together.

May's disastrous beginning to her appeal in Lilycove had definitely stunned him. He was somewhat angry that she could have made such a slipup, and endangered herself because she hadn't calculated just how much firepower her Combusken could generate. But also marveled at just how well she had raised it for it to have been so strong at all. She now had three ribbons, and she wanted to see the Grand Festival, she had less than 11 weeks to get the last two she needed.

But he had to tell himself that didn't matter. From here on out, for 11 weeks, it was all about him and his Pokémon, and getting ready to take home that Top Coordinator title.

And around 11:59, he finally closed his eyes, ready to get some sleep so he could start early the next day, but he was thankful for everything that had brought him there; from his Pokémon to the people. This was the eve of his road to the Ribbon Cup.

It was the best birthday he ever had.

* * *

It had been two weeks since he'd left Mossdeep to begin his training.

Solidad had texted him a few times, once saying she was officially registered to compete in Kanto's contest circuit, and to ask how his training had been going and where he was now.

Drew had spent the last few days in Lavaridge Town; a tiny hot springs town known for its mineral thanks to being at the base of the volcano. It had been a good few days of exercise for his Pokémon. Roselia loved the enriched soil found there, Vibrava loved the heat and Masquerain loved the moisture in the air from the steam. All of his Pokémon felt happy and were more than content to get to work in such a lovely environment.

It was only 3 p.m. when they'd stopped for the day. The next morning, they were set to travel onward to Rinshin Town to continue their progress. But the real reason they'd stopped was because he wanted to watch the Purika City contest, which was set to start broadcasting live any minute.

By the time he and his Pokémon settled into their room and flipped on the TV, the to see the opening ceremonies commencing.

The first 16 contestants failed to truly impress him. It was when number 17 came out that his interest was truly piqued.

"Bulbasaur, come on out and take the stage!"

He hadn't seen May's Bulbasaur since the contest in Rubello Town, when she more or less pushed him way too hard. But this time when Bulbasaur took his place center stage, he seemed completely relaxed and ready to start. May had obviously been working with him since that day and the two had buried whatever negative feelings may have festered during that contest, had any festered at all.

The combination of razor leaf and vine whip worked far better than he had anticipated it would. Because Bulbasaur was able to target every single one of its leaves, the combination showed how truly fast and accurate her Pokémon was, and how creative May was in turning two seemingly ordinary moves into something that entertaining to watch.

Drew's PokéNav buzzed beside him.

 _Bulbasaur looks much better_.

He shot off a quick agreement to Solidad, and continued watching the rest of the appeals, knowing fully well that he could soon be facing any one of these coordinators on the main stage of the Grand Festival.

When a crazy looking purple-haired Cacturne-clad coordinator took the stage, Drew watched closely. And then when another text from Solidad told him _this_ was her friend, Harley, he snorted a little. This guy looked like no one Solidad would associate with, but he assumed he had to be a powerful coordinator, and probably just as creepy as the vibe he was giving off.

He was right, on both accounts.

Harley's bullet seed offensive proved to be one of the most disturbing appeals Drew had ever seen, if not the most disturbing. The Cactunre had painted a skull and crossbones across the stage with his bullet seed, and the audience seemed a bit torn between cheering and leaving. Drew would have gone with the latter.

It only took a minute into watching Harley's first battle that Drew realized he didn't like Solidad's friend very much. He wasn't a traditional coordinator by any means. Throughout his battle, Harley was ruthless, and it became very clear very quickly that Harley wanted all those who were watching to know he showed no mercy. His attacks, obviously intended to inflict harm as opposed to showcase Cacturne's appeal.

It wasn't shocking when he won, nor was it surprising when May would face him in the finals, because she had come such a long way since that first day in Slateport, and that horrible day in Rubello. She struggled in her battle at first against the opposing Surskit's speed, but got herself together with a cleverly aimed vine whip.

Drew approved of the move, and was shocked when she called for a petal dance. The Bulbasaur launched a gorgeous storm of flowers and sparkles, much like Roselia's.

His phone buzzed beside him with a simple group of exclamation points from Solidad. Drew ignored it.

May pushed through to win the match and went on to face Harley in the finals.

There was such a strong difference in her and Harley's battling. She deserved to win this ribbon, because her heart was in this for her Pokémon. Harley just wanted to win.

They met on the field with hard stares and a lot of animosity. Drew could deduce that May had probably had some kind of disagreement with her opponent, and it didn't surprise him.

What surprised him was when Harley tried to cheat.

The match was progressing in May's favor. She was fighting hard while putting her everything into her attacks, and her Bulbasaur was responding to it well. They looked to be in perfect sync, not missing a beat and dominating the field. Drew couldn't even imagine how hard these two had trained together to put on such a prolific show in this contest.

Then, Harley decided he wasn't having it.

It was hard to understand everything on the TV, but it was very obvious someone had tampered with the stage controls and played a recorded message. He couldn't make out every word, but from the look on May's face, she was mortified.

There was a pan shot of the audience, the whole audience was roaring with laughter. By the way the camera was shaking as well, Drew knew the camera operator was also laughing. And it made him sick, to know Harley didn't respect coordinating enough to play fair, because by that smug look on his face, it was obvious he was behind it.

But what was worse was the look on May's face as she shrunk a bit into herself. As the recording, her face was a red as her bandana, and she was clearly holding back tears. Drew felt a hallow feeling spread through his chest as he watched May, who looked so confident moments ago, shatter beneath the scorn of those watching her and bury her face in her hands.

Then, she surprised him. She snapped back up, her embarrassment replaced with a fire burning in her tear-filled eyes.

Harley was openly mocking her, trying to tear her down more than he already had, but she wasn't taking it anymore. But before she could retaliate in any way, Harley's Cacturne snuck in a powerful, direct hit.

It was borderline sinful, and part of Drew wondered how they didn't stop the contest right then and there. But part of him was relieved, because he wanted to watch May destroy this loser where he stood.

There were pros and cons to any coordinator getting emotionally invested in a battle. On the positive side, emotions, when channeled correctly, could work as the best motivator. On the flip side, if a person let their feelings get the better of their judgment, they could make bad calls and lost their composure. The latter seemed to be happening to May.

"C'mon, May, calm it down," Drew breathed more invested in seeing May come out on top than he ever expected to be.

As if she could hear him, May took a breath and refocused in the midst of an oncoming feint attack. Her Bulbasaur managed to grab the incoming Cacturne and toss him high into the air with a powerful vine whip. Then, May gave Harley a taste of his own medicine. Just as ruthless as Harley had been all contest long, May rebounded with a beautiful razor leaf and petal dance combination.

Seeing the petal dance come from May shook Drew a little more than he wanted to admit. Seeing May pull off his signature move…it was just like him using her silver wind.

The combination hit its marks, and Cacturne fell to the ground, unable to continue the fight. Even though he had more points, Harley was X-ed out of the match. May had won.

 _May had won._

Her Bulbasaur rushed to her, and she embraced the tiny grass type, hugging him and no doubt praising his efforts.

She was four ribbons into the season, and there were about four contests left in which she could compete in to earn her spot in the Grand Festival.

And for the first time since he met her, he somehow knew that he was going to face her in Hoenn's top competiton. With how she'd competed in the last two contests he'd watched her in, it was like she'd finally hit her stride as a coordinator; like she was born again and finally able to channel her talents effectively. There was absolutely no doubt that they'd face off there, and he felt more pressure to be the best he could be when that battle would come.

He watched as she accepted her ribbon. Although he didn't care where the creep went, Drew couldn't help but notice Harley was nowhere to be seen at the winner's presentation. But May's smiling face lit up his television screen, and he looked back to his Pokémon as they too watched the girl they were used to seeing win again. Roselia seemed to be the only one aware of Drew's stare, as she turned to face him, nodding. She already knew what he was thinking.

A quick glance at the clock on the wall told him it was just past 6 p.m.

"Hey guys?" he called out.

Vibrava and Masquerain turned to look at him, seeming to understand just as Roselia had.

"It's still early. Let's get back to training."


	10. Mirage Island (I've Got You)

**Chapter Nine: I've Got You (Mirage Island)–** In which things change in _big_ ways.

 **Author's notes:**  
\- Based on the episode, "Who, What, When, Where, Wynaut."  
\- I firmly believe that this was the episode in which Drew realized that he had feelings for May, but more on that later.  
\- From this point on, I'll be using more explicative words. Not many, of course; just in appropriate situations I feel the characters would actually use them. This episode, for example, had quite a few life or death situations, and I think I can safely assume that a few swear words would definitely occur in real life. You'll see what I mean, but this is where the story starts to earn its T-rating. Basically, this is a strong language warning.  
\- I've been dying to do this chapter, because this is just about every contestshipper's favorite episode. I actually started working on it when I was in the middle of writing chapter five.  
\- I will state every canonical moment we saw in this episode, and on top of that, I'll be adding moments that happened off screen; the stuff we didn't see. Of course, that stuff will be fictional, but I mean…we'll just pretend, okay? I will at least.  
\- Another super long chapter at 56 pages on Microsoft Word and 24,401 words. But this is "THE EPISODE," and my favorite one for sure as well. It demanded the respect of being long.  
\- This chapter took A LOT, so...please review and leave me some feedback! Really hope you guys like it, this has been my favorite one to write.

* * *

There were _only_ _six_ weeks to go.

In six short weeks, Drew Hayden would enter his first Grand Festival. It was a fact that excited him beyond measure, not that he'd let anyone know that of course. He liked to convince people he didn't do the whole, 'human emotion' thing. But it was finally coming, and even he couldn't lie to himself and say he wasn't absolutely brimming with anticipation. He'd get to showcase his Pokémon in the ultimate contest; the one every coordinator dreamed of entering but only mere dozens actually got to compete in.

And he was one of those dozens this year.

Now that it was so close, it seemed all the more real. With his five ribbons in his case, and the knowledge that he'd recently entered a class R3 contest and managed to beat some of Hoenn's best coordinators, he was feeling better than ever; more excited than he'd ever been in his life.

True, he had qualified to enter the season prior, but he had opted out. It was difficult for him to walk away from the opportunity, but he knew he wasn't ready to win last year. The Grand Festival was go big or go home, and he knew he'd enter when he was ready.

This was that year; this was his season. Drew knew with total certainty he would win the Hoenn Grand Festival.

That meant six weeks of hard work, training and preparations of all kinds, including studying his competition fiercely. Never one to take interest in tabloid publications, he'd found himself flipping through issues of _Coordinator's Weekly_ , reading every article containing information about the upcoming festival. From rules and regulations to feature stories of past winners, he'd read more articles than he could keep count of. But there was one section in every weekly issue leading up to the Grand Festival that he was really after.

The projected winners; " _Top Picks for Top Coordinator,"_ the series headline read for each issue.

Throughout the year, reporters for the magazine attended any and every contest, making note of all the winners of the individual contests and keeping tabs on everything about them from their ribbon count to their Pokémon and move sets throughout the season.

When he opened the latest issue and saw a full four-page spread about himself, he felt a plethora of different emotions. He was both absolutely pumped and annoyed that he'd received the recognition. He hated media attention, but was honored that he was selected as one of the favorites to win. And win he would. Still, it bothered him that any one of his competitors could pick up the magazine and know instantly who his Pokémon were. They'd even noted his Vibrava, whom he'd never debuted at a contest. That was a sign he'd been stalked, even in the remote places he'd chosen to train. Damn paparazzi.

The next issue he saw projected Robert, the coordinator he'd lost to in the Slateport Contest. That made him a little uneasy, but he had reminded himself constantly that he and his Pokémon had only gotten stronger since that loss, and they were ready for a rematch. And seeing the exact same stats and information on Robert that he'd seen in his own spread made him feel somewhat more prepared. Knowing he had a Claydol and a few others helped him gain a sense of direction to take in his training. He knew without a doubt that he would face Robert again, and it would be in the Grand Festival.

A few of the following issues named a few coordinators he didn't know. Some he could vaguely recall seeing at contests he'd attended to compete or observe. Others he doubted he'd ever even see or have to worry about.

The latest issue he'd picked up that morning caught his attention for entirely different reasons. On the front cover, the side story headline tease of _"Road to the Grand Festival: The Last Chance for These 25 Coordinators!"_ was screaming to be read. Drew didn't hesitate to grab the issue and take it with him while he searched for a good training spot, his Masquerain fluttering above him. He flipped to page 15 for the story.

The article itself talked all about the final Pacifidlog Town Contest, which was arguably the most important contest of the season every year in Hoenn. It was always the final contest of the regular season, meaning for every coordinator with four ribbons, it was make it or break it. There was no in between; all or nothing odds.

Just as promised, the article featured the 25 contestant profile pictures – the ones taken for contest passes – of those who would be going for their final ribbon, paired with one or two sentences below each explaining who they were, their four ribbons, and the odds of them winning.

And just like he figured, the girl with the red bandana was #16 on the list.

He couldn't help but laugh a little at the prospect; May had always come off as an unorganized coordinator. He'd realized very early on that he couldn't predict where she was going to compete next. She just stumbled from contest to contest, taking risks and occasionally relying on luck.

Now, it was time to see how far her luck could take her, because if she didn't win in Pacifidlog, she wasn't going to enter the Grand Festival.

But there wasn't a reason to focus on that; especially not now, when he himself was getting ready for said event.

The magazine found itself in a recycling bin after he'd finished reading it, and Drew and Masquerain found themselves on a cliff overlooking the seemingly-endless ocean.

That day, as well as the next few weeks would be all about training with his team's power. Pulling off beautiful appeals was such a second nature to Drew at that point, he didn't need to worry about his Pokémon's moves looking good. He knew he'd make it through the appeal rounds no problem; he'd never failed to make it past an appeal round in a contest, after all. The battle rounds were his main focus, especially after reading up about some of the competition he'd face. He already knew Robert was a threat, and a few of _Coordinator Weekly's_ other projected winners had certainly caught his eye.

There were infinite possibilities for techniques Drew could use to calculate his Masquerain's power, and only a handful of them he was willing to use. He knew the more he put his heart into training, the more results he'd see. That was how he found himself there, staring down a massive tidal wave heading straight towards him. Should he or Masquerain make a mistake, Drew would be instantly overtaken by that wave's power, and he could be swept out to sea to die, or be tossed over the cliff and onto the rocks at the bottom to break his neck. Ah, the possibilities were endless.

Despite the risks, Drew wasn't nervous at all. He had an unshakable sense of faith in all his Pokémon, and he knew Masquerain wouldn't fail him. So he called for a silver wind, completely unfazed by the promise of injury and/or fatality right in front of him. Masquerain fired off a beautiful ripple of glowing silver rays, pushed forward by a powerful gust, completely dispersing the water. Not a single drop touched Drew or his Pokémon. A shower of shimmering water droplets rained down before him, and he smirked with admiration.

"Masquerain, awesome job," he complimented. "You keep that up and the Ribbon Cup is ours."

Masquerain chirped happily, and he was set to continue on with more moves, but there was the matter of Drew being aware someone was watching him. Before that silver wind, he could faintly hear someone shouting a warning – " _Hey,_ _look out!_ " – in his general direction. As if he hadn't been aware of the massive tidal wave about to hit him… But he turned and looked below to see a group of people watching him from the beach.

He almost burst into laughter, because it could not have been any more perfect to run into her here, before her upcoming contest; her upcoming final chance to compete against him in the Grand Festival. He wanted to remind her of that…and maybe show off a little, because that's what he did best; rile her up.

And, though he wouldn't admit it out loud, a part of him had thought it was weird not seeing her for a while, because he had gotten used to seeing her at contests. Her absence seemed unnatural somehow.

Ash was the first to approach him and Masquerain, running while May and the other two were more slow in there approach. May seemed almost hesitant, but she had a soft smile planted on her face while he greeted them with Ash praising his Masquerain's silver wind.

"That's just one of the many awesome attacks I'll be using over at the Grand Festival," he flicked his hair, because it was his trademark sign of, 'I'm-about-to-show-you-up.'

"That's where you and I will face off!" May declared, taking a step forward to show him her determination.

"So that means you've earned all _five_ of your contest ribbons, May?" he dared her.

Of course he knew the answer. He'd seen it not even an hour before running into them. But he doubted she read _Coordinator's Weekly_ , or knew she'd been featured in it. More so, he doubted that she even knew the amount of pressure she faced to get this final ribbon. There were projected to be over 50 people entering that contest, 25 of whom were going to be putting everything they had into getting that final ribbon.

She surprised him by laughing somewhat nervously, whipping out her ribbon case to show off her four ribbons. He couldn't say he wasn't impressed that she'd made it this far…but she still wasn't there yet, and from the way she was forcing herself to sound more confident than he knew she really was, he knew she needed to feel pressured to get that drive she needed. After all, he did want to face her in the Grand Festival, just to prove the point that he was and always would be better than her. Not that there was any doubt, of course.

"Just one more and I'll be able to enter the Grand Festival, see!" she chimed.

"Isn't that nice?" he said easily. "Look."

It all flowed in order: his eyes were closed, a smile planted on his face, he heard the click of his ribbon case opening, and the collective chorus of gasps from May's party.

"The Grand Festival is in _six weeks_ ," he explained to them. "There's only one more contest before that, May."

"Only one more?!" Max questioned.

Drew didn't wonder why May got along with this group so well. They seemed just as clueless as she was. He couldn't imagine spending more than a few minutes with them collectively. Sometimes it was exhausting having to fill them in on things.

"You know what that means…" May said slowly, her face falling further with every word.

"Yes," Drew said. "It means you win the Pacifidlog Contest, or it's over, end of story, finite."

The look on her face was one of a girl who just had her dreams shattered. Drew hadn't meant to hurt her feelings in anyway; he was just an honest person warning her that if she really wanted this like she'd been hell-bent on proving she was, she had to work harder than she ever had, and she couldn't rely on luck to get her there.

She was quick to compose her features into a nervous smile and a laugh to complement it.

"Right, I knew that!"

Drew locked his ribbon case and placed it back in his jacket pocket, unconvinced and smirking with his eyes closed so they wouldn't see him roll his eyes in amusement.

"Still as totally clueless and happy-go-lucky as ever," he replied.

Just like always, May was quick to take offense to his statements. She jumped forward, right up in his face. Her eyes renewed with a spark of determination; the minor depression she'd displayed moments before was gone without ever having left a trace.

"Yeah?" She challenged him. "Well how about a practice battle right here and now, Mr. Know-It-All?"

Now that was a tempting offer. He hadn't faced her in a battle in quite some time, and though he'd seen her show minor improvements each and every time he watched her compete, he was dying to see it in person and experience it first hand or himself. Drew could see how nervous he made May, even though she constantly tried to hide it. He wanted to know how she would handle her nerves against him now that she was a somewhat more experienced coordinator.

"Well I suppose Masquerain and I could use a little warm up," he responded.

"It'll be more than a warm up!" she exclaimed, marching across the sand to stand a few yards away from him.

She muttered something to Ash, and he nodded at her, smiling and telling her something encouraging, Drew was sure. He understood the exchange when Ash moved to the center of the space, announcing the battle between them and declaring himself the referee like she'd asked him to.

"Beautifly, take the stage!" she shouted what he'd come to know as her catchphrase, lobbing her Pokéball into the air.

He was always happy to see her Beautifly. Drew could say whatever he wanted about her skills as a coordinator, but she was undeniably good at raising her Pokémon. Beautifly's wings seemed more and more sparkly and colorful every time he saw her.

"You ready for this, Masquerain?" he looked up to his Pokémon.

Masquerain nodded in an affirmative, floating just a few inches in front of him.

"Now, begin!" Ash signaled.

Drew flickers his hair, confident in his Masquerain's strength. He knew he could win this match quickly and easily, so he thought he'd be a gentleman.

"After you, May," he offered with a flick of his hair.

Just as he knew she would, May ordered a silver wind from her Beautifly. A giant pillar of light and silver flashes formed, coming straight for his Pokémon. And just like he dealt with the tidal wave earlier, he was completely focused and trusting of his Masquerain's ability to handle the attack. He called for him to sail through Bautifly's silver wind by spinning through it. A masterful dodge he'd perfected, and a sure way to earn him some points in the real approaching festival.

Masquerain quickly broke apart the vortex Beautifly had created, prompting May to grit her teeth and clench her fists a little. Her friends seemed to notice her anxiety.

"You're doing just fine, May!" her brother called out to her.

She nodded at him in response, keeping her eyes locked on Masquerain with Beautifly anticipating the next move.

Drew decided it was the perfect chance to show off his own silver wind. Just when it looked like a guaranteed hit, May called for a dodge with a somersault, something he didn't think of nor expected from her. Beautifly responded instantly, flying through the air with precision and grace, as if it was well rehearsed in quick and appealing dodges like this. Were it a real contest, he would have lost major points for missing such a sure-fired attack. Drew smiled a bit; May truly was improving, and if she could think on her feet that quickly, he was starting to think the battle might get interesting…

That's when everything went to hell.

The ground shook as what Drew assumed to be the world's biggest Magikarp smashed onto the beach, throwing them all a bit off balance. His mouth hung agape in surprise and suddenly, the Magikarp started…speaking?

 _What in the hell?_

But he knew that voice; Drew swore he knew that voice from somewhere. And when the second voice appeared, it clicked him his brain almost instantly. That annoying Team Rocket group with their talking Meowth, who seemed to be constantly chasing after May and her friends appeared, rising out of the top of what he now realized was a submarine. Each time he'd seen them, they always had different reasons for being there: stealing berries, entering contests, selling fake contest merchandise, it was never the same gimmick with these losers. But Drew had figured out early on that their true main goal was to steal Pokémon, and they had a particular interest in Ash's Pikachu. That, he understood; every time he'd seen that little mouse fire off an attack, it had always been beyond powerful.

Team Rocket didn't get far in their speech before declaring that they were once again there to take Pokémon for themselves and blah blah blah… he'd seen this act a few times already, and he knew they'd resolve whatever scheme they'd come up with easily enough like they did every time.

But this time was different, and suddenly he, May and the others were all holding on to whatever they could, trying not to get sucked into the submarine by a massive powerful vacuum. He watched in horror as Masquerain, Beautifly and Pikachu all disappeared inside of the mouth of that ugly sub. Next thing Drew knew, they were all flying through the air, being pulled in just like their Pokémon had been as well. This was _not_ how he expected to spend his training day.

They slammed into what felt like a wall, and under all their weight, the thing sheet of metal collapsed. The group found themselves all piled uncomfortably on top of each other. Drew hit the ground with a thud, part of his body slamming up against someone else – Ash. Everyone collectively moaned, trying to adjust to the impact and get past the pain of being thrown and crash-landing; they knew they'd be sore tomorrow.

Without warning, a Wobbuffet screeched out its unwanted presence, and Max jumped up, completely taken off guard and freaking out. He was clearly still processing what happened, and the jump scare didn't help him at all. The young boy hopped to his feet, instantly losing balance and shuffling awkwardly before slamming into the wall furthest away from the dog-pile of people. There was a clicking noise, and Max looked panicked.

"I think I hit something!" he announced.

The Meowth, screamed in alarm, and Drew knew that whatever Max had hit meant trouble for them.

 _Not good_.

"YOU PUSHED THE HYPER ENGINE TURBO SWITCH!"

The submarine shifted, and everyone was thrown back down again as it took off an unimaginable speed, jetting through the water out of control.

 _Definitely not good._

Everyone in the sub was holding on for dear life, while Drew worked to regain his balance with one goal in mind: protect his Masquerain. He struggled immensely against gravity and the g-forces of the plummeting sub as he fought to gain some sense of balance, which felt next to impossible. It felt like trying to move a mountain, and he was trying as hard as he could. But he wouldn't give up; he couldn't risk his Masquerain getting hurt, because he'd never be able to get past it if something bad happened to one of his Pokémon and he could have potentially stopped it.

To his surprise, he saw May next to him, fighting the same battle as he was: the struggle to stand up. He could see it in her eyes, the same thing he felt: save her Beautifly. She was completely unworried about herself; she just wanted her Pokémon safe. Drew had known she loved her Pokémon, but to know she felt the same level of devotion to them as he did to his own was…well, he couldn't figure it out right then and there. He didn't have time to spare.

"Masquerain–"

"Beautifly–"

"Return!"

Two streaks of red light flashed and their bug Pokémon were safely back inside their Pokéballs. Drew took a split second to breathe out in relief before he quickly backed into the corner and hugged the wall behind him. May had done the same on the opposite side of him.

"Where are we going?!" the pink-haired girl shrieked, voicing the question they were all too shocked to ask out loud.

As the only one in the entire party who wasn't screaming, Drew heard a creaking noise above him. His eyes shot up to see one part of the metal hall bend inwards and unnaturally. He instantly deduced that the increasing pressure as they sunk further and further at top speed was beginning to become too much. The sub clearly wasn't made to handle this depth. Then, a similar, larger dent appeared on the ceiling opposite from where he was standing, and he seemed to be the only one to notice the problem.

 _Fuck. Oh fuck_.

Typically a person who was _always_ calm, Drew found himself panicking. The situation could _not_ get any worse. Then, in the front of the sub, he could hear the start of a shrill, high pitched whining noise, almost like a teakettle whistling to alert someone it was done boiling. That noise in front of them was steadily and very quickly growing louder, and Drew knew it was from whatever kind of electric engine was powering the submarine. He also knew he only had a few seconds to act in some way before they'd get hit with some kind of explosion.

He never knew why he did it; in that moment, Drew Hayden _could not_ understood for the life of him what possessed him to take the action he took in those last few moments before the sub exploded. He blamed it on his body acting on pure adrenaline. But it felt like it was the natural thing to do; like it was the one and only course of action he could have ever taken in those final, fatal milliseconds.

When that screech became so deafeningly loud, and everyone began to notice it, Drew pushed himself off of the wall he was holding onto and launched over to where May was hanging on. And he caught a brief glimpse of her face before he was steady enough to move again. She looked absolutely petrified as her eyes sparkled with unshed tears; she appeared more frightened than any person had ever been in the history of the human race. Her expression told him that she believed she was absolutely going to die in those moments. It was all too much for her, and she was genuinely afraid: the walls crumbling in around them and sprays of water beginning to flood the ship through the cracks in the hall, all on top of the screeching sound from the ninth circle of hell, which she may or may not have realized by that point was literally a ticking time bomb.

Drew didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second. With his back to the front of the sub, he wrapped his arms around her shaking frame, shielding every inch of her body that he could with his own.

"Get down, May!" he hissed directly in her ear, pulling them both to the floor and making them as small as possible.

The noise was impossibly loud now; he didn't know whether she actually heard his command or not. But she complied either way. She curled herself into him, burying her head behind his chest while holding her ears. All he wanted to do was cover his own ears as well to stop himself from going deaf. He couldn't see what anyone else was doing; whether they knew the blast was coming and they were prepping themselves or not, he didn't have time to check or care. All that mattered was himself and this tiny, trembling girl in his arms.

And then suddenly, there was an explosion.

Even though he'd been anticipating it, the impact was far greater than he predicted. It stunned him, in every possible way, and as he was shot upward, he vaguely realized that he'd lost his grip on May. The blast sent a shockwave through his body, almost like an unnaturally large pulsation; he felt like he was paralyzed and couldn't feel anything. It was louder than he'd thought possible, and for a few seconds, the only thing he could hear was the ringing in his ears. He had to blink a few times, the confusion and shock had completely overwhelmed him.

A few seconds later, he realized he was flying.

Every single person in the sub had been mercilessly launched higher in the air than Drew had ever wanted to be in his life when he wasn't on a plane or riding a flying Pokémon. Out of every single person in the same position as he was, May was the closest, her screaming prominent as she flailed out of control. Everyone else was much farther ahead of them in the air, as they'd absorbed more of the force from the blast being closer than Drew and May had been when it detonated. For a moment, he swung his arms and legs a bit, letting out a scream of his own for a moment.

That was the extent of the panic he'd allowed himself to feel.

By swinging his limbs freely around, he realized that miraculously, he was basically uninjured, save for maybe two or three spots he knew he would have bruises on. And if something was seriously wrong with him, the adrenaline coursing through every vein in his body prevented him from feeling anything. May seemed just as fortunate. But injured or not, he was more than capable of trying something, – _anything_ – and Drew knew if he did absolutely nothing, he and May were most definitely going to die.

They were heading towards a mysterious island, and gravity began working against them, finally pushing them downward. Drew knew they wouldn't make it all the way onto the island, thank Arceus, meaning they would land in the ocean, and had a chance to survive this free fall. He did a quick guess-timation of where in the water he and May would land, and had a pretty good idea. He just hoped the water was deep enough.

"MAY!" he screamed as loud as he could over the woosh of the air and chunks of debris from the submarine flying past them.

"DREW!" she screamed back, looking back and realizing he was there with her.

She still looked panicked, but he faced her with strong, stern eyes, conveying to her he was there with her and she absolutely could not afford to freak out. This was life or death, and he was there with her no matter what would happen. There was a small sense of relief that washed over her face as she realized she wasn't alone in those moments.

After seeing her brother and friends separate from her, she didn't know what to do. But having Drew there, it made the situation – somehow – feel a little less dark. Like if she was absolutely going to die, it wouldn't be alone after all. But even more so, she saw Drew's collected nature, and she dared to hope that if he thought they would be okay, she could try to believe it, too.

"MAY, GRAB ONTO ME!" Drew instructed, performing swimming-like motions in the air to push himself closer to her.

She nodded, replicating his actions, and when she was within reach, he grabbed her by the wrist, pulled her close and looked at her straight in the eyes. He knew he had less than five seconds before they'd plunge into the ocean, and there was only one way to handle this if they wanted the slightest chance of surviving this free fall.

"FEET FIRST!" was all he screamed to her, getting himself into a pencil-dive position, hoping she could understand him. "I'M GONNA LET GO!"

Sure enough, she did understand. When Drew released her wrist, he stretched his arms above his head to make himself into as straight a line as he possibly could. May in turn mimicked his pose and stuck her feet straight down with her arms and hands straight up, and sucked in a large breath in preparation of the coming impact.

 _'Please let this water be fucking deep enough!_ ' was Drew's last thought before his body crashed through the surface of the blue.

May followed suit, and the two were pushed deep down below the surface thanks to the force of their impact. They never did hit the bottom, though, much to both of their relief, and as Drew kicked and paddled his way to air, he thanked Arceus that he'd somehow, against all odds and logic, survived that dive and was able to swim afterwards.

He broke the surface of the water, greedily sucking in oxygen like he'd never taken a breath before in his life. He hadn't been submerged for very long, but his heart rate was still sky rocketing and he needed to breathe to keep himself from having a panic attack. The air burned going down his windpipe, but he couldn't find it in himself to care for the moment. His eyes searched all around, frantic when he realized May had not surfaced as he had. He was about to dive back down when she finally bobbed up atop the water, breathing just as hard and heavy as he was.

Her eyes were the size of the moon while she processed the same thoughts he was.

' _I made it. I'm okay. I'm_ alive _._ '

"May!" Drew called to her again, swimming over to meet her.

"Oh my Mew, now what do we do?!" she asked him, kicking hard in the water to stay afloat as the waves crashed into them.

"We have to swim to that island," Drew told her, lifting an arm out of the water and pointing. "Conserve your energy, ride the waves and let them push you to shore."

"Okay," she nodded, following him towards the only bit of salvation she could see.

They swam conservatively, Drew doing everything in his power to make sure he wasn't tiring himself out. It was sheer dumb, incredible, stupid, wonderful, impossible, amazing luck that they'd landed so close to that island, so they for sure wouldn't drown. But once they got there, figuring out there next move would be another challenge.

There were tons of whirlpools around them in the water. Drew noticed them all, and worked hard to steer himself and May out of their reach. Yet another miracle of the day: they'd managed to avoid all the churning waters of death.

Neither May nor Drew knew where they were or what they were slowly swimming to. Drew couldn't guess what kind of wild and potentially dangerous Pokémon could be waiting for them ashore. May didn't know what had happened to her friends or worse, her baby brother; she had no idea whether they were alive or not. Once she'd lost sight of them, in the air, she couldn't stop the horrible thoughts going through her head. On top of that, there was the daunting fact that neither of them knew what they were about to face once they made it to the mysterious island.

Still, in the luck department, they had bested some pretty good odds so far; they'd survived that insane explosion followed by a surely, deadly fall, and there had been probably a one in a billion chance for all of that to happen in the same day.

Things could only get better from there, _right_?

* * *

Both of them crawled onto shore slowly, collapsing into the sand while flipping on their backs and catching their breath as their situation slowly dawned upon them.

Their adrenaline was finally wearing off and leaving them to pant in the sand beside each other. They didn't know how long they'd been lying in that spot, trying to regulate their heart rates and thinking of a good first move, but neither of them said anything for a good while.

At one point, he turned his head over to study her face. Despite her being soaking wet, clear tear tracks ran down the sides of her face, and her eyes were locked straight up at the sky. He hadn't realized she'd been crying, because she'd been so quiet. As she lay there, she was unmoving, and he knew she was in shock.

Drew wasn't by any means a survivalist, because he'd never had to be one before. He'd camped out a few nights here and there, but he'd never experienced a truly dangerous situation out in the wild. No, he was not a survivalist, but he knew that's exactly what their situation called for.

He was smart enough to figure this out on his own, and he knew the first basic rule of survival was to remain calm. Lose your head; lose your life. And there they lay, May silently going through an anxiety attack and not moving an inch.

He quickly determined that keeping May calm was going to be step one. Getting May comfortable and determined to make it through this would be step two.

Drew recalled how she seemed to collect herself as they were falling together, when she had seen how calm he was. Normality was key. He had to make her feel like this was just another day of them bumping into each other.

He dragged himself up to sit, then stand while he brushed the sand off of himself as best he could. She seemed startled by his actions, her eyes shooting up to him from the ground as she blinked.

"Get up, May, c'mon," he urged her, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Don't be lazy like I'm sure you normally are."

His fingers traced along the Pokéballs in his pocket making sure his team all was present and accounted for. He felt Roselia's first, which brought him a deep sense of peace. Roselia was his rock when he was stressed or angry or anything of the sort. To know he hadn't lost her gave him a whole new outlook on their situation. Masquerain and Vibrava were also there with him, and he just knew it was a good sign for him. If they had that much luck up until that point, they could keep the streak going. They had to.

May was just standing up when she wobbled a bit. Drew watched her curiously and realized her legs and hands were still shaking. May backed into a large rock and leaned on it for support, not saying anything. She was a nervous wreck, no doubt still absorbing the events and worrying over her brother and friends. It gave Drew an idea.

While on the sub, he'd realized May also shared the same close connection and bond he had with his Pokémon with her own. He assumed that knowing she had her Pokémon with her could probably help her as well.

"Do you have all of your Pokémon?"

Her eyes went wide, and she whipped her fanny pack around from behind her, tearing through its contents as she silently counted to herself. Drew wasn't worried, though; if his Pokéballs had made it in his open pockets, hers would have been safe inside her zipped-up pack. So he watched and waited for her reaction. Once she'd concluded everyone was with her, she visibly relaxed, just as he knew she would. Her legs even stopped shaking. It was a great sign.

Drew sighed as he looked out over the ocean, knowing they were far away from any inhabited islands and even farther away from Hoenn's mainland. In the back of his head, he couldn't help but think of Vibrava, and how nice it would have been for him to have evolved into a Flygon. That way he and May could have gotten off the island, or at least done a search for her traveling companions.

May hopped up on the rock, taking a seat and looking around. Something in her eyes changed; like her brain had finally caught up and fully processed the situation they were in and she knew she had to come to terms with it. Drew kept on his, 'make-her-feel-normal' mission with the confirmation.

"Ugh," he moaned. "How'd I end up stuck here with you?"

"I'm not exactly thrilled, either," she shot back, but her voice still seemed sad.

Still, it was a retort, no matter how weak. He needed that, and he needed it to be stronger.

That was her fire; her strong will that had made her stand out to him in contests so many times before. That was the May he was looking for, and he had gotten the first taste of is in one small dose.

 _Ah, sweet progress._

They'd both need that progress if they were going to figure out a way to get off the island. Looking out, Drew noticed the island had been surrounded with fog, and he could make out the countless strong currents and whirlpools all around. How they'd managed to avoid those swimming to sure, he didn't know. But they had, and it was done; no need to dwell on it.

"I wonder where the rest of them landed…" Drew spoke carefully, testing her.

"We should go try and find out," she offered.

Then, their lucky streak continued.

At first, he didn't believe it was real. At first, he thought he'd hit his head on something and was hallucinating. At first, he figured he was just going insane when he saw an old man riding on a boat towards them, expertly surpassing and gliding around the whirlpools surrounding the shore.

But as the boat got closer, and May acknowledged it too, Drew realized it was completely real.

"Is that a man…?" she wondered aloud, her voice shrouded in disbelief.

Minutes later, the man in question had tied off his boat, and they were both recounting the story of how they'd got there. The man listened curiously, and casually explained the nature of the island when May asked him about it. But something about this old man's explanation of this place seemed familiar to Drew, and he racked his brain for a few seconds before he realized that he had heard of this _Mirage Island_ before.

Then, it clicked.

He'd read about it in the Pokéblock book Solidad had given him for his birthday all those weeks ago. The guidebook had boasted several rare berries that could only be found in certain parts of Hoenn, but gave a full five pages to the Lychee berries of Mirage Island. It was a mystical place that was almost impossible to get to. Only a handful of people had reported ever actually getting there. Lychee berries were completely exclusive to this place and impossible to get at any market. So Drew knew the second he saw some, he'd get them. What better way to get his Pokémon ready for the Grand Festival than with the best Pokéblock in the world?

"This place is world famous!" he explained to May when she seemed confused. "It's supposed to be crawling Lychee berries, too."

"I've never heard of those…" May admitted.

Now that they'd more or less been saved, the whole situation seemed completely fine to him. They still had to find May's friends before they could leave, but they had a guide now. They had someone experienced and knowledgeable about this island who could safely help them find their way, and then bring them back to Hoeen's mainland on his boat. The hopelessness of it all seemed faded, almost instantly. The danger was past them, and Drew could relax. And it seemed like it'd be a waste to not slam May for not knowing that Lychee berries were literally the best ingredients for Pokéblock a coordinator could get…

"Of course I wouldn't expect _you_ to know that…" he gave her a pointed look.

May steamed with embarrassment from his comment, in front of a stranger no less. She had no intention of letting Drew get the best of her ever, but especially not here.

"Oh yeah?! I happen to know all about lechee berries!"

"Well then I'm sure you know it's pronounced, 'Lychee.'" Drew rolled his eyes, not even trying to hide his amusement at all.

She grunted in frustration and turned away from him. He was such an arrogant piece of work that it made her crazy.

The old man just laughed at the pair and offered to guide them through the forest to find May's companions. After a quick formal introduction of name sharing, the three set off. May was worried about finding her friends, Drew about spotting Lychee berries and Rodrick chuckling to himself as May and Drew silently bickered to each other behind him.

 _Ah, to be young and in love again_ …

* * *

"May's expedition into the mysterious woods begins…"

She'd been narrating things since they'd left the beach. First it was, "May finds herself on a legendary island only few have ever seen," with an intermission of, "Who knows what wondrous things await us on today's adventure with May's expedition," and also a, "Only time will tell if May will make it through this uncharted paradise where _anything_ can happen…" thrown in, too.

All paired with a fake camera frame she'd shaped with her fingers, it was cheap, corny and over dramatic. It was completely 100 percent something he could see May doing all the time. He found it hysterical, but he couldn't let her know that, because it would just diminish his reputation of 'I'm-too-cool-for-you,' and she'd probably either stop or –Arceus forbid – ask him to participate.

"You don't get out much, do you?" Drew casually tossed over his shoulder, careful not to let her see his smile.

"Of course I do; you just don't know how to have fun," she retorted.

He broke out into a bigger grin. She was a lot wittier than he realized before, and she was smart and funny, too.

This was the most time Drew had spent with May…ever. And it was odd to see the array of things he'd seen from her that day. She was so much different outside of coordinating than he imagined.

He was coming to see a lot of sides to her personality. She clearly liked adventure, which made sense considering all the traveling she did with her friends for coordinating. She could handle a joke, and wasn't afraid to bite back when she was handed a sarcastic remark or two. She was a very caring person, concerned for her friends and mostly her brother's safety as they searched the island nonstop to find them. She was emotional, but not in a bad way, and capable of switching back and forth between emotions when the time needed her to. She was perceptive, active and adaptive, never once complaining again that they were stuck on the island and tackling this insane hike that they'd been on for almost an hour now without slowing down. She was curious and inquisitive, always seeking to learn about new things and asking questions to find answers until she could come up with more things she wanted to know.

She was all of those things and more, and Drew couldn't rack his brain hard enough to find a single word to describe all of the things May was proving to be.

She was of her own breed.

She was just… May.

She was _May_.

Rodrick had stopped walking in front of them, and Drew barely had time to stop himself from crashing into the seaman.

"Do you know if your friends would have any idea what to do in the event that they got lost in the forest?" he turned and asked May.

She pondered for a few seconds, mulling it over. And then her eyes lit up.

"Brock would know!" she confirmed. "He's really good at stuff like that."

Her friend Brock would know? Really?

Drew wasn't seeking praise or recognition by any means, but considering he was more or less the reason they'd survived up until the point when Rodrick found them, it stung his pride a little for her to instantly assume he wouldn't know anything. He felt himself frowning at the idea, maybe even a little envious…

He killed the thought in his mind the second it formed. For one, Rodrick had asked if May's friends, who were not with them would know what to do, not if he would know. Second, May was just a coordinator he happened to fall into a bad situation with; this wasn't about being better at anything, but about finding her friends and getting out of there. Third, he would never, ever let himself have a thought like that again, because he didn't do feelings of any kind. His life was dedicated to coordinating, and no girl – especially not _this_ girl – would ever change that.

So Drew planted a tight smile on his face when Rodrick suggested they find and follow the river back to the beach, and chose not to dwell on the fact that he'd even had the treacherous thought in the first place. The only thing he allowed himself to take from the moment was the survival lesson.

* * *

The roar of the river below the cliff they were standing on was insanely loud.

The rapids of the water flowing impossible fast were a bit overwhelming. He couldn't imagine wanting to get as close to the edge as Rodrick was.

"We made it," May said. "Here we are at the river and we didn't get lost once."

It really was impressive when Drew took a second to think about it. They were on an island that few people not just in Hoenn, but in the entire world, had ever successfully made it to and explored. The forest was as dense and confusing as Rodrick had warned them it would be, but he never led them down a wrong turn once.

"So how'd you get to know so much about this island in the first place, Rodrick?" he questioned.

The old man recalled the tale of his first trip to the island; how he'd ended up stranded here and left to die when a storm capsized his boat. Both Drew and May were surprised to learn that he was a fellow coordinator, but it made sense considering he'd come to the island in search of Lychee berries to help made his Pokémon stronger.

He was vague about who had rescued him from certain death, but he explained that whoever inhabited this island _was_ the reason he survived, and had given him the fabled Lychee berries Drew was growing increasingly more interested in. So far, in the few hours they'd been on the island, he hadn't seen any, and having the confirmation that they truly did exist made him want to find them all the more.

"That's a pretty cool story," Drew admitted, his eyes searching around.

"Yeah, but who's cave were you talking about?" May asked.

Before Rodrick could answer May's question, Drew's vision lined up with the most beautiful sight in the world next to the ribbon cup, perhaps.

There, growing off the side the cliff they were standing near, was a bushel he'd recognized from his book. And his excitement spiked.

"Look!" he pointed out, forgetting all reserves about standing so close to the violently rushing river and running towards the edge.

"What is it, Drew?" May called after him, a bit startled.

He could hear her footsteps behind him; just another confirmation that she was a naturally curious person. She planted herself right beside him, and his heart picked up a little bit. Although, that wasn't her doing; couldn't have been. No, of course not; that was the discovery of the fruit he'd sought after.

"Check it out!" Drew pointed down for her to see. "Lychee berries!"

"Are you sure?!" she asked, excited.

Her mind was clearly in the same place his was; if they could get those Lychee berries, they could make excellent Pokéblock. She was more than eager to use any and every advantage to help her in her upcoming contest, because if she didn't win, she wouldn't be competing in the Grand Festival.

He in turn was thinking about using them to aid him and his Pokémon in said competition as well. True, Solidad had given his a pouch filled with exotic and rare berries a few weeks ago, and he had every intention of using them…but according to the book she had also gifted him with, nothing could compare to Lychee berries.

That was when Drew Hayden did the first stupid thing he'd ever done in his life.

He started to lean down, attempting to reach them.

The sound of Rodrck's sudden scream was far louder than that river ever had been.

"LOOK OUT!" he yelled. "THAT CLIFF–"

Rodrick never finished his sentence. The cliff gave way beneath him. If Drew had been given more than a second to think about his actions, he probably could have rationalized that, because a fully healthy plant was able to grow there, that part of the cliff must have been more soil than solid rock.

Soil wasn't intended to support the full weight of a human, much less two of them.

He desperately tried to reach for the edge as both he and May had tumbled downward, but nothing he could get his hand on was solid.

It was all happening so quickly; Drew could barely register anything but the fact that he was falling towards an uncontrollable river. He couldn't tell if he'd really heard Rodrick call out for something to use vine whip or not, but sure enough, May had been able to grab something, and she overstretched her arm trying to grab onto him.

"Drew!"

Somehow, she was successful, and for a fraction of a second when their hands connected and clasped together, Drew tried to believe that they'd be okay.

They never stopped falling, though.

The vine had slipped through May's hands, and they both crashed into the surprisingly cold water of the river.

Drew had never fought so hard in his life. He kicked and paddled and pushed against the current as it tossed him all around, pushing him under water and pulling him back up at insane intervals.

His lungs were filling up with water and he tried desperately to find May, who he knew was in the same situation as he was, because he was a fucking idiot who was going to drown because he thought he could stand onside of a cliff and nothing bad would happen.

It was a painful cycle of in and out of the water. For every second of air he was allowed to breathe, he suffered through five seconds of no breathing, then six, then seven, then eight…

Over the chaos, two things happened. One, he finally found May, and he grabbed what he assumed was her arm and refused to let go. Second, he managed to hear Rodrick call out to them, begging them to try to swim to the shore of the river.

"THERE'S A WATERFALL DEAD AHEAD!"

Yep, he was definitely a fucking idiot. And they were definitely going to die.

Drew kicked in whatever direction he could, but if he made any progress, the rapids just pushed him back. There was no overpowering them, and they were going over the fall no matter what.

He had about four seconds of clarity when he and May were thrown over the waterfall, hurdling towards the river below again. They were both screaming, because this time around, Drew couldn't find one single thing to calm himself down. But he looked over at May right before they hit the water, and he saw that she was trying to straighten herself out again to brace for the impact. It was process he should have parroted but he realized it too late.

He was definitely a fucking idiot.

That was the last thing he realized before he hit the hard surface of the water and everything went black.

* * *

It felt like an eternity before she had resurfaced above the water, but in all actuality, it had only been a few seconds.

May was using all of her strength to keep her head above the water so she could breathe and she was only barely succeeding. What would happen when she couldn't keep kicking? She had never been so terrified in her life…

Until she saw Drew, her only companion in the entire ordeal with his face lying down in the water, the currents carrying his body along next to her.

He wasn't moving, and she felt like all of the blood in her body turned to ice.

Impossibly, she managed to push herself over to him, and she twisted her arms underneath his own and wrapped them upwards and around his shoulders. She pulled him on top of her chest in an attempt to keep his head above the surface. She couldn't tell if he was dead or alive, and the thought hit her like she'd fallen off 20 waterfalls instead of just the one.

One was already far too many for a lifetime.

"Don't worry, Drew," she told him, praying to Arecues he could hear her. " _I've got you!_ "

Drew was all she had with her in those moments…and he could leave her. Not now, not like this. He had to stay with her, because she couldn't imagine having made it through the last few hours without him. Had he not been there with her, reassuring her that they would make it since the beginning of when everything went to hell in that submarine, she would have been dead. She knew she would have.

Drew had saved her life, and she couldn't ever fathom the thought of not being able to save his.

So she did what she had to do to keep his head above the water.

When the river pushed and pulled her around bends and under currents, she used her arms to push him up just high enough while she was thrown around underneath. The river never let up, either. Her legs clashed and banged painfully against rocks and things unknown that were beneath her. She was sure her legs were going to be every shade of black, purple and blue should she manage to get out of this alive. But despite the pain, she fought with everything she had to keep Drew exposed to the air, and relished in the precious milliseconds she could get her head above water just long enough to take air into her own lungs.

At one point, she could feel her body start failing her, and she knew that unless she didn't have to support his full weight, they were definitely going to die. Maybe in the river, or maybe they'd get dragged out to sea and get caught in one of the whirlpools surrounding the island. She didn't know what sounded worse.

But she did know she absolutely did not want to die.

"Drew, you've gotta wake up," she begged. "I don't think I have the strength to pull us out of this current."

There was a response to her frantic request, but it hadn't come from Drew.

May could barely lift her head enough to notice the mysterious bouncing Pokémon following then from the shore of the river, racing along having already spotted the two of them in the rapids.

"What are those things?" May questioned. "Are they Pokémon?"

She was dunked under the water again and pushed Drew up as hard as she could. She hadn't had any time to suck in some air before she was submerged, and she had two options. She could keep holding on and stay underwater until either the current pushed her back up, or she could let Drew go.

The latter she would never consider as she suffered slowly under the raging water, her lungs burning in protest.

Back above and without any hesitation, one by one, the Wynauts leapt over the edge of the cliff, connected to each other by their arms and trying to reach May and Drew in the water. May managed to poke her head above just in time to see the Wynaut trying to reach them.

"What are they doing…?" She was confused, mostly due to the lack of oxygen her brain had been denied.

When one of the Wynaut finally managed to take her hand, she finally understood. With one last burst of adrenaline, she tightened her grip on Drew's shoulders and let the Wynaut reach down to wrap around her waist. The hoard of the Wynaut then pulled them to the side of the river, and one by one, rolled themselves up, securing a hold on May and Drew and listing them up the sides of the cliff until they were back on the solid ground.

Drew was rolled onto his side by the one of the creatures while another was patting his back with its black arms, trying to force an unconscious Drew to heave up any water that might be blocking his lungs.

May, meanwhile, was shakily trying to stay balanced on all fours. She was panting and coughing up water, and she felt dizzy and heavy. She wanted to scream and throw up and sleep all at once.

She could barely hold her head up to look at the group of little blue Pokémon who had saved her life. But those feelings of heaviness kept pushing her down, and she found it harder and harder to stay conscious with black creeping into the corner of her vision.

To her side, she thought she could hear Drew coughing violently, to the point of vomiting. Was he expelling the water from his lungs? Was she imagining it? She didn't know, and she didn't have the strength to turn and check.

In fact, she didn't have the strength to do anything anymore.

"Thank…you…" she choked out.

And then she gave into the darkness, falling unconscious beside Drew as well.

* * *

May felt something poking her face.

At first she assumed it was her brother, and lazily swatted at the annoying little touches.

"Max, cut it out…" she mumbled, rolling onto her side.

She realized a few things when she moved.

One: she was sore. Too sore, and her body sent waves of pain through her muscles as they went through the arduous motions. She stopped herself from moving instantly and moaned as she willed the pain to subside. She felt like she'd been hit by a bus, but then again, getting hit by a bus probably would have felt better than this.

Two: she was not in a bed. She was also not in her sleeping bag. She was on the ground. The cold, hard, semi damp ground. And there was something itchy underneath her head; leaves? Why was she sleeping on the ground?

Three: that was _not_ her brother's hand poking her. Or Ash's, or Brock's, or Pikachu's, or _anyone's_.

Her eyes snapped open and she found herself surrounded by little blue Pokémon, one of which was uncomfortably close to her face. Its eyes stared intently at hers, and it tilted its head to the side curiously when it saw she had woken up.

She blinked a few times, completely lost.

"Oh, um…hello?" May croaked, her voice a bit horse.

The verbal confirmation seemed to send a shockwave through the Pokémon, and they all danced happily and celebrated her regaining consciousness.

With great effort, May was able to sit up and did her best to ignore the aching in her ribs and legs. She looked around slowly, not recognizing her surroundings at all. They were in a cave of some sorts, and very near the mouth of it. The sun was still high in the sky and the world bright outside. Light was flooding the cave and May guessed it was still somewhat early in the day.

Her hand stretched out next to her on the floor and she took a deep breath to try to calm herself. It helped tremendously when she felt the top of her familiar old fanny pack, still zipped up tightly. Some of the items inside of it were waterlogged and ruined, like the watch her mother had given her on her 11th birthday, or the note she'd scribble down to remind herself of something, but she counted all of her Pokémon inside. They were all that mattered. The fact that her ribbon case and all four of her ribbons were okay too seemed like an added bonus.

She clipped and readjusted her fanny to its usual place on her hip; feeling her Pokémon so close to her was helping her cope with all of the uncertainty surrounding her.

Speaking of Pokémon…she turned her attention back to the ones in her company. She didn't know much about her situation at the moment, but these little happy Pokémon around her seemed familiar. The memories of the earlier events slowly came back to her: the island, the cliff, the river, the waterfall, Drew…

 _Drew!_

She found him lying on his back a few feet away from her, his eyes still closed. His head was resting on a bed of leaves like hers had been, and there was a few of the Pokémon – the Wynaut – surrounding him as well.

May crawled over to him, and settled on her knees beside him.

"Drew?" she tried calling his name in her rough voice, but earned no response from him, and cleared her through and tried again. "Hey, Drew?"

"Wynaut!" One of the little Pokémon chirped up from next to him.

She looked to the Pokémon then, and a thought occurred to her.

"Is Drew alive…?" she asked slowly, though she was scared of the answer.

The Wynaut bobbed its head up and down, and May's eyes went wide.

Her eyes fell to Drew's face again, and then back to the Wynaut once more.

"Is he okay?" she also questioned.

Once again, the Wynaut affirmed her and signaled yes, and May let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in.

She continued to look down to the boy beneath her as she settled on her knees in an attempt to get comfortable. Much to her relief, she could see his chest rising and falling with his breathing now that she was focused on him.

He was okay.

He was _alive_.

Despite all the aches and pains of her body, she felt had never felt more content in her entire life.

The danger was behind her, and May felt like she could relax somewhat. True, she was still stranded on a deadly island and had no idea where Max or Rodrick or her friends were, but Drew was with her, and he was more or less okay. For now, that was enough.

Next to Drew's sleeping form was a set of three Pokéballs and his own ribbon case as well. Roselia, Masquerain and whatever other Pokémon Drew possessed was there with him. She was curious as to what other kind of Pokémon Drew would have, as she had only ever seen two of them, but turned her attention to his own ribbon case. May clicked it open to check that everything was present and accounted for, and only took a spare second to marvel at his five ribbons from the season.

With everything in order, she set the case back down and waited for him to come back to the waking world.

According to the Wynaut, Drew was okay, but if he was truly okay, why wasn't he waking up?

The first hour felt like the longest. She kept all of her focus on his face, willing his eyes to open and for him to acknowledge that he was, in fact, truly uninjured. Had the Wynaut _actually checked_ to see if he was hurt? Did he maybe hit his head when they fell? Why was it taking so long for him to wake up? She had woken up fairly quickly, so why couldn't he do the same?

The second hour, she felt like she wasn't doing enough. Just sitting there was watching him breathe in and out was maddening. She tried to think of something that might help him wake up, but she was drawing blanks. So she did odd little things like take the pile of leaves the Wynaut had given her and stuffed them under Drew's, trying to elevate his head a bit more. Or when she would count his breaths per minute, just to make sure he was being consistent. She did stupid little gestures like that every few minutes, because what else could she do?

The third hour, May could feel herself getting paranoid. Drew remained asleep, much to her relentlessly rising anxiety. At one point, she removed one of her gloves and put her hand on his forehead to feel if he had a temperature, but she didn't feel one. He was as perfect as always, so she moved about to feeling his head softly to see if she could find any bumps on it, but there was nothing out of the ordinary there either. So she fixed his hair as best she could, knowing he'd probably be appalled that someone had touched it, settled back down and tried even harder to be patient as the Wynaut siting beside her were.

The fourth hour, she heavily debated leaving and going to try to find help. She knew that her brother, her friends and Rodrick were still out there somewhere, hopefully still looking for her and Drew. But she felt utterly useless just sitting there, watching and waiting for him to wake up. At one point, she voiced her concerns aloud to the Wynaut, and one of them came and put its hand over hers, trying to reassure her that everything was okay and the best course of action was to stay put, or so she figured. And she begrudgingly agreed. If she were to try to navigate the forest on her own, she would surely get lost. That wouldn't be good for either of them.

By the fifth hour, she had become desperate. The sun had started to set in the sky, and May was going crazy. She couldn't stand the silence any longer. She started talking to him again, trying to rouse him from the sleep he'd been in for far too long. She was careful not to touch him, because if he was as sore as she was, she didn't want to cause him any additional discomfort.

But she spoke to him, for minutes on end. More words spilled from her mouth in the span of 20 minutes than she felt she had ever said in her life.

She told him he needed to wake up. She told him she was sorry she couldn't have helped him more. She told him she regretted running up next to him and causing that cliff to crumble beneath them. She told him he needed to tell her something stupid and rude and pointless, only to turn around and then give her a rose to confuse her by telling her it was for her Beautifly.

She told him he needed to come back to her.

"Drew, are you okay?" she asked him, feeling like she was on the verge of tears.

She wanted to cry, because she was scared and confused and lost and alone. Even with all of these wonderful little Pokémon surrounding her, the only thing in the world that she wanted was for this boy to respond to her.

This arrogant, sometimes sweet, overly cocky, occasionally charming, annoying and wonderfully talented boy, who had – on more than several occasions– made her think she hated him.

There were days when she took Drew's comments so personally that she swore she never wanted to see him or his stupid grass head again. There were times when he did so well in contests that she tried to nitpick the tiniest details out of his appeals and argue that he wasn't as great as he thought he was. And there were moments when he seemed so unimpressed with her that she promised herself one day she'd prove him wrong.

She thought she couldn't stand him. She thought she absolutely hated this boy.

Now she realized she didn't; not at all.

All of those insults, all of those snide comments and all of those jerky remarks had pushed her to be better. This whole time, she realized, she had been fighting for him to acknowledge her. To look at her and say that she had done a good job and that he was impressed. He inspired her to want to do better in contests.

Up until that point in their…acquaintance, she'd only seen him in contest halls, and she'd always judged him based on how he was in the competition. But now, there were no halls here. No stadiums or arenas or battle fields where they were out to prove that they were better than each other. There was only the boy who had given her roses, and the girl who tried to understand them.

The boy who had saved her life and the girl who was trying to save his.

If someone had told May 24 hours prior to that moment that she would have ended up stranded and alone on an island with just Drew, and that she'd be begging for him to wake up, she would have laughed at them and told them they were crazy. Now here she was, her heartbeat drumming in her ears because she was on the verge of having an anxiety attack over him not being able to talk to her, even if it was just an insult or two.

She would have given anything for him to insult her then.

He knew how to push her buttons, and he'd often exploited that fact when they were together, but she had realized over the last few hours that there was so much to this boy that she didn't realize before.

This boy who she thought had been harassing her since day one. This boy who had turned around at the instant their lives were in danger and shielded her body with his own when the sub was going to explode. This boy who instructed her how to survive both free falls they had experienced that day. This boy who had saved her life, twice, and she was hoping with every cell in her body that she could turn around and save his.

This boy who she still had so little of an understanding of. He'd more than proved to her that he was more than roses and ribbons.

Maybe it was the fear that she felt when she thought he might never wake up, but in those moments, May realized she _wanted_ to know him more.

And she needed him to wake up so she could have the chance.

"Say something, please…" she begged, her voice cracking.

* * *

Someone was talking to him.

It was a girl's voice – that much he could tell. But he couldn't make out the words all that well, because it all sounded muffled, like he had headphones on his ears, or he was listening from the other side of a closed door, or like he was underwater.

The voice was soft and somehow comforting, though. Was it Solidad's?

No, because why would she be there?

And where exactly was ' _there_?'

He could tell he was lying down, but the surface he rested on was hard and unappealing to him. It was solid and cold; definitely the ground.

Why would he be on the ground?

Everything was cloudy for him, and he could tell he was coming out of what must have been an extremely deep sleep, because he was slowly regaining the feelings of his limbs and they were sore.

He didn't move at all, and he could already feel throbbing in some of the parts of his body, like his arms and legs. Had he been training for the Grand Festival that hard? Or had he been run over by a train? He couldn't tell.

Things slowly started to take form in his head and his brain slowly rebooted itself. He struggled to remember what had happened to him earlier, but one by one, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

How he's set out that day to work with his Masquerain on his silver wind's power. How he got sucked onto a submarine that had exploded and stranded him on Mirage Island. How he got carelessly close to the edge of a cliff and had fallen into a river and over a waterfall. How he'd almost killed May in the process.

 _May._

The voice speaking to him was May's; the girl he'd ended up stranded with on the island. Not the girl he sometimes competed against in contests, because those didn't matter. Maybe they wouldn't ever matter again.

He'd blacked out after they'd fallen over that waterfall together, and he had no idea what her state of being was. But he was definitely hearing her voice, right? Or was he dreaming, because he couldn't open his eyes just yet. There was still a fog over him.

So he focused all of his energy on trying to understand what May was saying, as her voice was becoming more and more clear with the more concentration he put into hearing it.

"Drew, are you okay?" the voice asked.

Was he okay? He couldn't tell just yet. He definitely knew there was pain. It wasn't anything completely unbearable, but he was definitely stiff and the option of not moving for a little while longer was definitely preferable.

But Drew could hear an urgency in May's voice; one that told him she was scared, perhaps for him, and that it would have been selfish for him not to try to acknowledge her.

He needed to open his eyes; to figure out where he was and see if May was really there.

"Say something, please…" her voice called to him, pleaded of him.

And he tried, so damn hard.

He clenched his eyes shut hard to confirm if he had the ability to even do so. Then he tensed his back muscles and let the soreness pulse through his body. He was definitely waking up.

So he opened his eyes slowly, and everything was out of focus. So he blinked a few times, trying to see clearly.

The first thing he registered was the color _blue_.

 _May has blue eyes._

May's large, blue eyes shined as he stared straight into them. They were pools of the deepest, most beautiful shade of blue he had ever seen in his life. There was so much to read in them: fear, sadness, hurt, terror, apprehension, worry… And then, they morphed with new emotions flooding into them when she realized he was finally awake, mostly relief, joy, comfort, elation, and solace. He'd never encountered someone whose eyes were so expressive, and so damn blue.

Those eyes that help so much emotion, directed at and completely for him.

They were the perfect shade of blue to contrast against her red bandana.

 _Wait, what?  
_  
"Oh thank goodness," she breathed. "You're waking up…"

He didn't feel like he was waking up, though, because everything was getting weird. He had to be dreaming. There was no way that any of this was real.

He blinked a few times, trying to snap himself out of the slowly dawning realization that this was, in fact, very, very real. And for some reason, his heart felt like it was beating just a little bit faster.

The second thing he registered was a thought that he swore he'd never have in his life.

 _May is fucking beautiful._

For whatever reason, he couldn't stop staring at her. It was like he was really seeing her face for the first time, which was stupid, because he'd seen her so many times before. But it was like he was finally and actually looking at her.

And he couldn't stop trying to memorize the details of her face.

The way her eyebrows shot up and were so naturally slim. The shape of her lips, thin but not overly so. Her nose was tiny and round. Her cheekbones were sharp and perfectly aligned with the shape of her face. And the way her smile lit up the entirety of her expression.

Drew's heart thudded uncomfortable in his chest when he realized how close she was, and how it was setting his brain on fire.

He decided then that he had to move, because he being so close was suddenly very suffocating and he assumed that he must have hit his head to even entertain the thoughts that were running rampant in his head.

With great effort, he pushed himself up and ignored the pain in his back and legs and tried to remember how he could have possibly gotten to where he was – a cave, obviously, filled with a bunch of tiny blue Pokémon and even more of May.

"Did you…save me?" he asked, already knowing the answer to his question and trying not to let it shake him up as much as she already was.

But how could he not guess that May had saved him? There was no way he could have stayed above the water while unconscious. By all accounts, Drew knew with 100 percent confidence that May had to have held onto him after he was knocked out.

She had saved his life, and it was the most amazing thing anyone had ever done for him, even when he was the one who had put her in such a perilous situation in the first place.

His heart felt like it dropped out of his chest when he realized that.

Much to his surprise, May shook her head slightly, a somewhat shy smile gracing her lips as she looked away and gestured back to the Pokémon.

"It was all of these Pokémon," she told him. "They did it, look."

It took him a second to look away from her, and that fact caused him to shiver.

 _What the fuck is going on?_

There were dozens of what he instantly recognized as Wynaut in front of them. He'd seen this Pokémon in contests. But here, looking at this hoard of them in front of them, he knew they couldn't have saved them on his own. For one, the Wynaut weren't anywhere near them when they went over the falls; that, he knew for sure.

Maybe the Wynaut helped her, but Drew knew May was the one who had ultimately saved him, and he realized she was probably way too humble to admit that.

May fished out her PokéDex to learn more about them.

 _Because she's always curious–_

No, stop. Stop noticing things.

But he couldn't stop, because now that he'd opened the gates, the waters started flooding in, and he couldn't close them. Now that he was in such close proximity to her, all of the little features he had previously missed started to stick out.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye, taking note of how fascinated by the information of the screen of her Pokémon catalogue was. She was smiling as she took in the new information, and the smile reached her eyes.

 _No, stop. Find something else to focus on._

A little Wynaut approached, and he turned to face it as it held out two Lychee berries before them.

"Lychee berries!" Drew said with a little too much enthusiasm, making it obvious he was trying to hide the rapidly growing conflict in his head.

Luckily for him, May was easily distracted by the scene in front of her.

"Are those berries for us?" she asked, not wanting to risk taking them without permission, because she had always so polite and courteous and considerate to others…

 _No, stop. Just eat the damn berry.  
_  
The berry was incredible; it was just the perfect balance of sweet and tart with a hint of something he couldn't name, and Drew couldn't remember the last time he'd ever eaten something so… _spicy_. His taste buds instantly shifted to recognize the burning sensation overtaking his palate, and he squinted his eyes to see May as she shook her head and tried to withstand the fiery taste as well. She was twitching and shaking trying so hard not to spit it out and looked so adorable while she–

 _NO, STOP. FOCUS ON SOMETHING – LITERALLY_ ANYTHING – _ELSE._

"Wow, they got a really powerful aftertaste," he commented, because he felt like he had to say something or the thoughts in his head that he couldn't silence were going to eat him alive.

"But they sure make you feel strong!" May offered.

It was true, though. Drew could already feel some of the aches of his muscles fading slightly, and he assumed the Lychee berries had some medicinal elements to them. So he rationalized it was better to eat the entire thing and endure the bitter spice that lingered after swallowing it than not to.

The Wynaut all started cheering, and May was watching them while Drew was watching her, the most odd sensations rippling through his chest, and for some reason, it felt nice. He had no idea what was happening to him or why; he only knew he had to keep smiling like nothing was wrong and World War III hadn't just begin in his head.

"The combination of those berries and Wynaut makes me happy!" she giggled, her voice more soft than he'd ever noticed before.

"I know what you mean," Drew was barely able to squeak out.

* * *

They fell into an anything-but-comfortable-silence afterwards.

Well, maybe it was comfortable for May, because she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed to be in a much better mood knowing he was awake and unharmed. Drew on the other hand was a bit torn up.

The Wynaut took it upon themselves to stay busy while the pair of coordinators stood to the side. May was watching the Pokémon, and Drew watched her. If she would turn to face him, he would look away before she could notice.

After a few awkwardly silence minutes, mostly on Drew's part, he followed May to one side of the cave and they sat on a rock together to watch the Wynaut play.

"Those Wynaut sure know how to have a good time," May offered.

It was her fourth attempt at conversation in the last 10 minutes.

"Yeah," was about the only coherent response Drew could manage.

It was his fourth failed attempt at conversation in the last 10 minutes.

It wasn't him being rude or not wanting to talk to her; it was him not being able to form a coherent thought. He hated whatever was happening. Drew wasn't used to being so flustered, but he also wasn't used to the possibility of being…attracted to someone.

It was all new to him, and he didn't like it. He didn't understand why he was feeling so confused and decided he needed to focus on anything but her until he could figure it out.

One of the Wynaut left the group and bounced over to stand in front of them, extending its arms out to both of them. Drew stared at the tiny creature, confused.

"I bet you're asking us to join you, right?" May tried, perking up even more.

The Pokémon nodded once for her, and May excitedly hopped up from her seat, all her Pokéballs in hand.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed. "Come on out, everybody!"

May's full team appeared. Drew looked over all of the Pokémon to see if any of them would notice he was there. Beautifly was the only one who spared him a glance for more than a second, and looked pleased to see him there for whatever reason. He nodded to her shyly.

May practically skipped over to her Pokémon.

"We've all been invited to a little party with the Wynaut!" she told them.

They wasted no time in bounding over to the group of Pokémon and joining in on their fun. Beneath him, the little Wynaut looked back up to Drew expectedly, and offered for him to join again.

"Uh, no thanks," Drew respectfully declined, putting his hand up. "I think I'll take a pass this time."

He had too much to sort through and right now, what he needed most was some distance from the beautiful girl in the red bandana who had unknowingly just turned Drew's entire brain into mush.

Distance helped.

When the Wynaut retreated, and she had her back turned, he let out a long sigh, and looked down at his feet for a moment.

Logic. He needed logic.

He was always a person who followed his head and not his heart. It was a mindset that had served him well over the last few years. He had been successful and happy and healthy because he never had been a person who jumped into things without knowing what it entailed. He wasn't a risk-taker, and he had no intention of becoming one.

Just look at where standing too close to a cliff had gotten him.

So he began trying to break down this girl in front of him, and everything else.

All things considered, Drew had gone through a lot of stresses that day. He'd almost been killed three times: first, an explosion, then a free fall and finally, almost drowning in a river to top it all off. Any one of those things could definitely be considered traumatic, to say the least, and trauma could make people do or think some crazy things.

And he was definitely thinking some crazy things about the girl in front of him.

May Maple, daughter of a gym leader, maybe a somewhat-advanced-rookie-coordinator at best.

That was who he had always known her to be. The girl who occasionally showed up at contests he was competing in and the girl he'd recognized a few times because of her quick wits and Beautifly's silver wind.

But none of that mattered in those moments, did it?

It hadn't mattered for hours.

Not once had Drew seen this girl in the light of competition since they'd landed on Mirage Island. No, he had come to see that there was an entirely different girl beyond the contests and the competing.

May was one of the most genuine human beings he had ever met. From the way she put 100 percent of her heart in everything that she did, to the love and commitment she displayed for her Pokémon, to being humble and kind beyond measure, to everything in between, he realized that she was incredible.

Even now, as he watched her and her Pokémon play with the Wynaut, being completely happy and content despite their circumstances. She was incredible.

And if he'd missed all of these things before, what else had he missed? What other mysteries did her personality hide? Which of her emotions had he not yet discovered?

He found himself wanting to know, because he realized he had always noticed her.

Since day one, he had been drawn to her.

Since that first day she'd stumbled into his life by tossing a Frisbee towards him on a beach – he'd been following her and watching her grow into the coordinator– no, the _person_ that she was. He'd made excuses to talk to her before, during and after contests because he wanted to see what she would say. He'd given her roses with no proper reason why other than the explanation that they were for her Beautifly, who couldn't possibly have any use for them.

And his cocky attitude was him wanting her to notice him back.

He'd strived to impress her, not to outdo her, because he had always been better than she was, and they both knew it. But he wanted that to mean something. Despite being told all the time how incredible he was from his fans, he had wanted to hear it from _her_.

Her acknowledgement had meant more to him than anyone else's, all season long.

And suddenly, all of those little hints Solidad had been dropping, meaning she probably already knew all of these things, made his face burn.

Lucky for him, May wasn't paying attention.

He looked up to her and her Pokémon dancing and playing with the Wynaut. She seemed so careless and joyful, like there were no troubles in the world she had to worry about. She lived in the moment, and she enjoyed every second. Life came easy to her, where as for Drew, it has always been about competition. She was a genuinely lighthearted person, and he admired that about her.

There were so many things he admired about her, and probably so many other things he could as well.

So many other things he admitted to himself that he wanted to know, whether it was the direness of their situation or not, he'd figure it out later. For now, he was just content to watch her, sitting there more beautiful than he'd ever thought possible and radiating with happiness.

He was smiling as he looked at her, and he couldn't have stopped even if he had wanted to.

Lucky for him, May wasn't paying attention.

If she had looked up at him, she'd no doubt be confused as to why he was looking at her like that. And that would in turn initiate a conversation between them that he didn't know how or wasn't ready to have.

They stayed like that for a while. How long exactly, Drew wasn't, but the sun had definitely set and he couldn't find it in himself to care. She was having fun and he was slowly coming to terms with a lot of the things going through his head.

He thought he could hear something far away; a weird sound, something like a tornado, but the sky was clear and with all the other insanity that had been running through his mind, he assumed it was nothing. But as time passed, that sound grew increasingly louder, and it gradually became harder to ignore.

Then, when he heard what sounded like a tree snapping outside and the landscape being ripped apart, he knew he couldn't ignore it anymore. May looked up startled as well.

She was quicker to respond than he was. Sensing there could be danger, she recalled all her Pokémon in the blink of an eye and bolted from the cave to find the source of that horrendous noise.

 _May is fast._

He added it to the expanding mental list of things he was learning about her and chased after her, the Wynaut right behind him as well.

To their horror, there was a raging windstorm outside of the cave. The winds were so unbelievably powerful, they were ripping the Lychee berries – the Wynaut's food supply – off all the trees around the cave. Drew and May looked all around, utterly at a loss of words for what was occurring.

"The Lychee berries!" he yelled over the wind.

It wasn't until Drew's line of sight followed one of the berries that he noticed the giant Wobbuffet-shaped balloon floating above them, some kind of massive vacuum strapped to the bottom of it causing the chaos.

May noticed it too.

"Stop it!" she commanded, furious. "You're stealing their berries!"

It didn't entirely surprise Drew to see that it was the same people who seemed to stir up trouble wherever they followed May and her friends behind it. Team Rocket, or whatever their dumb name was. With all that had happened, he'd actually forgotten about their presence on the island. Clearly that was a mistake, as he and May watched the crooks stealing all of the rare berries.

Drew knew two things in that moment: Team Rocket needed to be stopped, because they'd caused enough trouble for an entire lifetime in the span of one single day, and two, the Wynaut of this island had shown him and May nothing but kindness and acceptance, and didn't deserve to be the victims of these insane evil team. The fact that they'd disrespected contests and coordinating by pulling as many stunts as they had in the past was even more of an incentive, but that wasn't the point at the moment.

"You twerps can sure tell it like it is!" the girl laughed down at them, not showing any intention of ceasing.

"Those Lychee berries belong to the Wynaut!" May didn't bat an eye, or shy away from fighting right back.

Drew glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes. Despite the disarray swirling around them, she held her ground. She stood strong and glared up at Team Rocket with more fire in her eyes than he'd ever seen before. She wanted to stop them just as much as she did, and from the way she wasn't backing down, he could see just how brave she was.

 _May is fearless._

He turned his attention back to the balloon and was just reaching for Masquerain's Pokéball when he heard May scream.

Drew knew she was a tiny girl, but he hadn't anticipated just how light she was until the vacuum was pointed towards them, and she was lifted into the air as if she was a feather.

He drew his hand back out of his pocket not holding _any_ Pokémon, and his arms shot out in a futile attempt to catch her and pull her back. But he was too late.

He missed, and his blood ran cold.

"Oh no!" he shouted, mostly to himself.

He could only watch in shock as she disappeared from sight.

"I don't think folks will pay through the nose for a twerp…" the boy in the balloon commented, much to Drew's disgust.

He was somewhat relieved when he was able to spot her again. She was dumped into the chamber holding all of the stolen fruits, and Drew could see her getting pelted by the incoming berries as more were sucked in. She raised her arms to shield her head from the oncoming assault. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

The situation was slowly getting worse. He wracked his brain for an idea on how to get May back. If he used any of his Pokémon to take down that balloon, it was guaranteed that May would get hurt in the process. At the same time, if he did absolutely nothing, she was trapped. He couldn't win.

But what use for May would Team Rocket have? They seemed disgruntled by the fact that they even had her at all. It clearly hadn't been their intention. So what were they planning to do with her, knowing she'd fight them back the first chance she got?

"Not a problem," the girl who'd faked her way through contests replied to her teammate. "We'll just sift her out at the end and throw her away with the pits."

 _Fuck._

There was no clear definition on what that could have meant, but Drew's imagination ran with it, and he didn't like the thoughts of these people disposing of May in any way they meant. And there was no way in hell that Drew was going to let anything like that happen.

But as far as coming up with how to get her back, Drew was at a loss. And he felt as if there was a huge block of ice settled in the pit of his stomach at the very realization of that fact.

The suction suddenly stopped, and the air returned to a stand still. The members of Team Rocket were still laughing at how well their plan was going, and how they knew Drew was in a bind as of how to stop them. Their laughter was infuriating to say the least, but at least the temporary pause meant May wasn't getting hit by flying berries.

To his horror, Team Rocket apparently decided they were ready to move on, having collected all there was from the area and clearly intent on stealing more berries from other parts of the forest.

"May!" he screamed when the balloon started to drift away; it was the only thing he could think to do at the moment.

"You gotta do something to stop Team Rocket!" she yelled back as they drifted away.

That's what she was concerned about? Not her own safety, but the well being of the Wynaut? Did it not occur to her that her life was, once again, in danger? Maybe she was desensitized to life-threatening situations having gone through so many in such a short period of time? He couldn't narrow it down, but he was absolutely certain that she cared more about those little Pokémon than she did herself.

 _May is selfless._

 _No, stop. Now isn't the time for this. I have to save her._

"Okay!" he promised her.

Next thing he knew, Drew was chasing after them.

He didn't have a plan to get May back yet; he just knew he couldn't let them take her out of his sight. That was how he came to stand atop a massive cliff, much higher than the one he'd fallen off earlier that day. He skidded to a halt and watched as the balloon drifted further and further away.

"Great, now what do I do?" he asked no one but himself.

He knew his flying Pokémon couldn't help him; neither Maquerain nor Vibrava were big enough to carry him. For the second time that day, he cursed himself for not working harder with Vibrava to achieve an evolution and get himself a Flygon. That could have made this rescue attempt easier.

The Wynaut suddenly swooshed past him, diving over the edge and connecting themselves together one by one to form the longest chain of connected Pokémon he'd ever seen. It was amazing how quickly and well they worked together. They extended all the way to the bottom of the cliff.

And they were encouraging him to slide down.

Had he had a second to spare, Drew would have stopped to think about how weird this entire situation was. How absurd and utterly stupid and completely moronic it was that he was about to jump off a cliff and hope riding down a bunch of Pokémon would be a safe thing to do.

But with that balloon getting too far away, he couldn't stop to really ponder anything other than chasing it.

"Okay!" he told them so they knew he understood.

He jumped on top of the Wynaut and did his best to keep his balance as he jetted down the makeshift slide. To his perturbation, he completely lost sight of the balloon just over a hilltop as he got closer to the end of the slide.

 _Fuck._

His feet hit the ground and he kept running, not sure at all on which direction he had to go. He was only certain he couldn't stop. The Wynaut caught up with him and were running beside him, some bouncing.

"Is there another big patch of Lychee berries they might go to next?" he asked them as they all sprinted.

They all affirmed him, and took the lead in the chase, guiding him to where he hoped the balloon and Team Rocket would be.

Where he hoped with everything he had that May would be.

* * *

May was having a tremendously bad day.

All things considered, it might have even been the worst day of her life.

She hadn't thought it could get any worse, until she found herself inside a massive cage filled with stolen berries flying in and hitting her from all sides.

Earlier that day, she thought she was going to die from an explosion. Then it was the sky dive into the ocean. Followed by falling over a waterfall and almost drowning in a river. Now here she was, being slowly engulfed by exotic fruits, inching closer and closer to the point of suffocation.

So that was how the final episode of _May's Expedition_ was going to end? Death by Lychee berries? Well, at least it was unexpected twist ending.

The light that was filtering through the glass window of the chamber was growing dimmer by the second as Team Rocket filled their pod up with more and more berries. The weight on top of her was becoming almost too much and she felt like she was being crushed. All she could do an that point was lie there and let her mind wander.

May thought of the kind old man Rodrick who had showed up to help her earlier that day. She thought of his story and how the Wynaut had helped him so long ago, and had helped her in the same ways. She only wished she had thanked both of them more while she was with them.

She thought of her friends, Ash and Brock. How Brock had been such a sweet and gentle spirit. He'd felt like a loving older brother to her, always giving her advice and cooking delicious meals for her and helping her raise her Pokémon to be as healthy and amazing as they could be. And how Ash was the most determined person she had ever met, forever striding to win the Pokémon league and become a Pokémon master. How no setback was ever too great for him to overcome, and how he'd shown her just how wonderful Pokémon could be.

She thought of her baby brother Max. She remembered every argument they'd had and every laugh they'd shared. She recalled everything from the times when they couldn't stop slapping each other to opening presents together on Christmas mornings. How he was the most annoying little boy in existence, but also the most caring, loving, sweetest and biggest support system she'd ever had. And how she considered being his big sister the greatest episode of _May's Expedition_ she'd ever had.

Then she thought of Drew.

The boy who had gone from someone she couldn't stand to someone who mattered so much. She couldn't exactly pinpoint just how she felt about him, as the life was being crushed out of her body by berries, but she did know that when he was unconscious, she would have sold her soul for him to wake up and speak to her. And when he did, she felt more peace and relief than she ever had in her life. She'd been so ready to burst with the happiness that she felt, that when the Wynaut had asked her to play, she couldn't turn down the offer. If she'd sat still she would have exploded.

While she was playing with the Wynaut, she'd seen him for a few seconds, when he didn't think she was looking. And he looked to be in a genuinely good mood as well, which was surprising to her. Maybe he was happy that he was alive. Maybe he had counted all his ribbons and was glad to know they were still there. All she knew was that when she saw him, he looked like he was truly content for the first time in his life, and it had warmed her to see him in such a state when she'd come to know him as such a guarded person. For a few short moments, she felt like she got to see the real Drew, and it was a big deal to her.

Part of her wondered where he was at that moment. Would he be able to stop Team Rocket and get the Wynaut their berries back? Was he worried about her just like she had worried about him? Would she ever see him again? She didn't know.

She had just given up hope when an arm reached down and yanked her roughly by the shoulder out of the pit of berries.

It took her a few seconds to process not having hundreds of pounds of fruit crushing her limbs, and she had to take a few deep breaths to steady herself and she shaky legs. There were parts of her face, torso and arms that had been hit particularly hard by some of the berries, but she ignored the dull throbbing, made peace with the fact that she would have a few bruises and recollected herself to glare up at the members of Team Rocket and their Meowth who were grinning down at her.

She made a move to reach for one of her Pokéballs when said Meowth jumped in her face and grabbed her by the collar, holding out his other arm and extending his claws as if to attack her with fury swipes. Her eyes went wide for a moment, and she gritted her teeth and froze.

"Ah, ah, ah," Meowth smirked.

"Don't even think about playing hero, twerp," the purple-haired one told her.

"Are you letting me go?" May demanded.

"Yes and no…" James admitted.

"We thought about leaving you in there," the girl May recognized as Jessica and Jesslana from previous contests. "But if by some chance we were do get arrested someday, we'd rather not have 'twerp murder' on our rap sheets."

"We also don't want ya takin' up space in our berry container," Meowth added. "So we came up with a solution for all our problems."

That was when she noticed the rope in James' hands and that the balloon was getting closer to the treetops.

May was even more tempted than before to grab her Combusken or Bulbasaur from her pack, but with Meowth's claws right in front of her face, she had to bit her tongue.

Less than three minutes later, she found herself effectively bound at her hands and around her arms while dangling from the first tree they had lazily picked. Once they'd drifted away from her, Team Rocket had resumed stealing all of the berries in the area, and May was absolutely powerless to stop them.

 _Great_ …

* * *

Drew had never run faster in his life.

The second he could make out the sound of that vacuum in the distance again, he knew he and the Wynaut were on the right track. He also knew that, given the basic principles of science, that container would eventually fill all the way up, and May would either be crushed or suffocated if she was left in that container. He also wouldn't put it past Team Rocket to let that happen given all the times she and her friends had thwarted their plans.

Even though his lungs burned in protest and his heart felt like it was going to explode and his legs begged him to stop for just one single second, time was not a luxury he could afford. So he pushed himself beyond his limits, because he had to.

She would have done the same for him. He knew she would have.

"STOP, OR ELSE YOU'RE REALLY GONNA BE SORRY!"

May's voice echoed through the forest around him and he knew he was close to her. The tree branches and bushes all began to rustle around him and the wind picked up incredible speed.

That was when he noticed a berry fly past him, and another, and another. Soon hundreds of Lychee berries were zooming by, and the forest opened up into a small clearing. Team Rock's balloon was in the center, sucking up all of the Wynaut's food and laughing at May, who was tied up and at the tallest tree across the way.

He ran through trees to get to her, the faithful Wynaut beside him.

"Yeah," Meowth mocked her. "Sorry we didn't think of this sooner!"

She'd had enough of that talking Pokémon. And of being tied up. And of Team Rocket. And of not being able to do anything.

Drew got to her side and looked up at her, inspecting every inch he could see. She had a few red blotches and scratches here and there, no doubt from being trapped with and attacked by numerous Lychee berries, but she seemed okay beyond that. She was a tough girl; she could handle a few small scrapes.

She began to wrestle against her restraints, fighting to reach her Pokéballs and failing. Her face fell when she had given up hope for a moment, and Drew shook his head. He wasn't ready to see her give up in the situation; especially not when things just got a whole lot easier.

Was Team Rocket truly that dumb? Did they not think he would come for her? They'd given up their only bargaining chip when they got her out of their grasp and stuck her in a tree. He assumed that it was for some moronic reason, like they wanted the extra space for more berries. Or maybe May had talked them to death, which was definitely a possibility. Whatever the reason, it didn't really matter.

The point was, now that May was out of danger, he had absolutely no reserves about giving them the best he and his Pokémon could offer. But first thing was first…

"Hey May!" he called up to her, unable to hide the smile that was on his face; he was too happy that she was okay.

When she turned down to face him, her face morphed from shock to appreciation rapidly.

 _Yep, she's definitely expressive._

"We've come to help you out," he told her, the Wynaut cheering behind him.

"Thank you," she smiled down at all of them, but was looking in his eyes as if to convey just how glad she was to see him and that she knew he'd be there. "Just in time."

They held each other's eyes for a few moments in silence, but the silence had never been louder. Drew felt like he could finally breathe again knowing she was unharmed, and knowing that in a few moments he could get her down and she would be safe again. May just looked so much calmer and more confident than she had been since before she was taken.

Drew couldn't recall a moment in his life when he'd felt better than he did at that moment.

But then that sweet moment between them ended far too quickly.

"She's right," Jessie made her unwanted presence all too known and their balloon lowered itself behind May and into Drew's line of sight. "You are just in time…"

Just as quickly as it had momentarily disappeared, Drew's rage came back in full force. He was so sick of seeing this people, and after what they had done to the Wynaut of this island and May, he was determined to show them they were not welcome around him, these Pokémon, or this girl ever again.

He glared up at them for a few moments, thinking of how to handle this situation. May was between them. If he were to try any attack, May would absolutely have to be out of the way. He knew they would do whatever it took to keep May a factor in this.

Jessie struck first.

She called our her Seviper, and called for a poison tail. But it wasn't going for him or the Wynaut; it was going for May.

Though Drew was extremely aware of May's position, he couldn't not summon his Roselia and call for a magical leaf to defend with. He trusted his Pokémon to understand and to aim accurately. Roselia wouldn't hurt her.

The Seviper was stronger than he'd anticipated, though, as it managed to not only block Roselia's attack, but also kept up in its charge. Just when it looked to be getting close to hitting May, who was totally oblivious and fighting against her binds again, one of the Wynaut began to glow orange and jumped in the way. Much to Drew's relief and amusement, Seviper's poison tail was not only blocked, but sent right back at it as well.

The Wynaut landed in front of him, and Drew quirked an eyebrow, impressed with the tiny Pokémon's quick use of counter, much to the dismay of his opponents.

He looked back up to May then, who was still squirming against the tight knots and getting absolutely nowhere. It occurred to Drew that as long as she was up there, out in the open and completely venerable to attacks, he couldn't attack with the ferocity he needed to, and May would be in danger until she was able to get to her own Pokémon.

Roselia looked back to him awaiting his next order, and he nodded his head up to the restrained girl in the tree. His starter Pokémon looked back and forth between the two of them twice, and nodded.

"Roselia, use petal dance!"

Petal dance was a much safer alternative to magical leaf when considering he was calling for the attack to head for May. He couldn't trust the sharp and brutal cuts magical leaf could produce, but petal dance was a much more refined and softer attack. Not to say it wasn't lethal when it needed to be, but he trusted it more.

Roselia shot her petal dance a bit away from May with the intent of the attack losing some of its velocity before getting to May and cutting the ropes. She was more sure of herself that way; in the case that any one of her petals did actually harm the girl, it wouldn't be devastating as the attack could be had she fired it directly at her.

At first, Team Rocket didn't understand, and laughed at his Pokémon for having a "lame aim," as they'd called it. Drew only laughed at how naive they were, and gave them a flick of his hair.

"You'll see," he warned them, stuffing his hands in his pockets to highlight just how confident he was things were turning in his favor.

Roselia had done exactly what she needed to do. Her mastery of her petal dance attack and its accuracy was astonishing as it sailed through and around the trees, eventually reaching May. The ropes disintegrated from around her small frame, and Drew watched as May gracefully dropped down next to him.

"Hey, thanks, Drew!" she told him earnestly before turning to face Team Rocket. "You, too."

Roselia landed a few feet in front of them, acknowledging May's praise while landing in a perfect pose, just as she always did. Roselia had always liked May; he could see that.

But that wasn't important that the moment. What was important was showing these psychos that they were going to atone for what they had done. And now the fight was fair.

He relished in the angered cries of their opponents from above when May reached the ground.

In the midst of Jessie calling for another poison tail, a massive surge of electricity came from behind them and jolted the snake Pokémon.

"We're coming, May!" voices shouted from behind.

The coordinators wheeled around to find May's friends and Rodrick barreling towards them.

"Don't worry!" her brother screamed.

Drew and May were both elated to see the group all happy and safe. It was the first time they'd seen May's companions since the explosion, and the first time they'd seen Rodrick since they'd fallen in the river. It all felt like a lifetime ago.

"Hey guys!" May beamed, more than thrilled to see them all.

"Is everybody here okay?" Rodrick asked when they'd all met up.

The pair affirmed, as did the Wynaut, and for a moment, everything seemed right with the world again, but Drew was all too aware of the unwelcome presence still behind them. They both turned back around to face down their enemies, but now the odds were stacked incredibly high in their favor. There was no doubt they were going to set this straight.

"Those aren't your berries!" Ash shouted.

Jessie summoned her Dustox in response, and James called out a Cacnea. After a moment of confusion on Team Rocket's part, when that Cacnea turned and hugged his trainer before launching an attack, Drew and May found themselves in the line of fire from poison sting attack. Drew barely saw the threat, though.

And with May standing at his side, he found himself drawing some inspiration from her.

"Masquerain, silver wind, let's go!" he summoned.

Masquerain appeared and launched a beautiful ripple of silver rays, completely thwarting the poison sting attack.

"Cacnea, pin missile!" James tried again.

This time his Pokémon seemed happy to comply. And this time, Meowth decided he'd contribute as well. The cat Pokémon held up some kind gun and shot off volts of some strange electricity. The blue lightning combined with the incoming pin missiles, and it was charging them at an unbelievable amount of speed. Not even Drew had time to react.

But the Wynaut did.

They all jumped on top of one another, and formed a glowing green pyramid to protect the reunited group of people. A safe guard, Drew recognized, which was confirmed by Max a second later.

"Okay, Pikachu," Ash started. "Now, give 'em thunder!"

The little tiny mouse charged up an enormous amount of energy instantly, and launched a beam of light at the opposition. The light was almost blinding, and Drew could easily understand why Team Rocket seemed to always be after May's friends and this tiny powerhouse of an electric type.

With electricity overrunning the balloon, the capsule containing all of the stolen Lychee berries detached and crashed only the ground below.

With the stolen property back on their turf, Drew couldn't see anymore of a reason why Team Rocket needed to be there.

He didn't know when May had called out her Beauitfly, but the two shared a quick look and nodded at each other, both smirking.

"Masquerain–"

"Beautifly–"

"USE SILVER WIND!"

What were originally two opposing attacks joined together in perfect harmony. The result was more beautiful than anyone could have ever imagined or accurately explained. Drew watched in awe as the pulsing beams of light from May's Beautifly met and paired up with the rippling waves of his Masquerain's.

No one there could take their eyes off of the sheer incredibleness of the combination.

The original reason Drew had caught this Masquerain and trained it for a silver wind attack was to outdo the girl next to him. He had always wanted to create the perfect version of this attack that worked best for him. Now he could see the absolute best he and his silver wind could be was if they were combined with May and her own.

Their dual silver winds formed a powerful vortex of wind and light that Team Rocket found themselves trapped inside. They were lifted higher and higher until the two attacks eventually exploded in midair. The bad guys and their Pokémon were sent flying through the sky as a result, and disappeared so much farther than they could see, much to Drew's elation.

The fragmented sparkles of the silver winds rained down all around them as the sun had just begun to peak up into the sky to start the new day. Drew and May looked all around them, too amazed to find the words to describe what had just occurred.

It suddenly dawned on May that it was all finally over; that the Wynaut and their berries were safe, that she and her friends were back together and that Rodrick could finally guide them all back home. It was overwhelming, and she couldn't stop herself from cheering. The Wynaut all joined in with her.

Everyone was silent as May and the Wynaut celebrated their victories together. Ash, Brock, Max and Pikachu watched the Wynaut. Drew was watching May.

Rodrick looked back and forth between the two of them; between this sweet young girl who was so happy, and this guarded boy who was so happy watching her be happy. He didn't know what had occurred between them after he'd been separated from the young coordinators, but he could very easily see the new light in Drew's eyes. The recognition his green orbs held, and Rodrick knew exactly what he meant.

"The most amazing double silver wind I've ever seen," he commented.

May looked over at the container of berries, then back towards Masquerain and Beautifly, before her eyes finally found Drew. Both of them shared a smile.

It was finally all over.

* * *

It took them fairly little time to get back to Rodrick's boat.

The clearing they'd defeated Team Rocket in was thankfully close to the beach, much to the delight of Ash, Brock, Max, Pikachu and May. They'd all been exhausted from the long day of searching the island, only to lead into the long chase and battle that had lasted through the night.

Drew, having spent so much of the previous day unconscious, wasn't as drained as the rest of them seemed to be, but he knew the second he got the chance, he'd be in a real bed, resting up so he could resume his schedule. Training, training and more training…

Once on board, Rodrick relayed the story of how he'd discovered Mirage Island and it's Wynaut to the rest of the group. He even passed around a picture of him from his younger days. May struggled to believe the younger man in the picture actually was the same man as the ship captain with them now.

Rodrick expertly glided the boat through and around the whirlpools as they made their way back to Hoenn's mainland. The danger was completely behind them as they looked forward on the horizon, eager to see land and put the last 24 hours behind them all.

"Back then, they used to call me 'Rodrick the Wrong-doer,'" he laughed. "But thanks to these Wynaut, I'm now known as 'Rodrick the kindly gentleman.'"

"Yeah," May squeaked. "Wynaut made me kinder too."

Drew smirked. He couldn't stop himself from replying with one of his own. Any excuse to keep talking to her.

"We'll see about that next time I beat you…" he teased.

"What did you say?" she snapped at him.

He shrugged. Her ability to change moods was so entertaining to him, especially now with all of the new things he'd learned about her. And about himself.

He especially loved the fire she had inside her, and how easy it was to force it out if he wanted to.

"But still, Wynaut are pretty cool Pokémon, huh?" he asked, willing her to understand he was only kidding.

She looked at him for a second before her face softened, and she smiled a little as Rodrick began speaking again.

"Almost forgot," Rodrick reached over to his side.

The group all watched him curiously as he pulled up a basket of Lychee berries and held it out towards May. She looked a bit taken back.

"For you, May," he confirmed with a smile. "A little present from me."

She lit up and stared at the berries in awe.

Drew eyed the berries a little hard. He recalled how almost 24 hours ago, he'd wanted some of those berries for himself horribly. That desire led to falling into a river and almost drowning. They were a grim reminder for him of what could have happened, to both him and May.

Contests and Pokéblocks be damned, he never wanted to see a Lychee berry again. But May deserved them. She deserved the world.

"You should be able to make wonderful Pokéblock with these," Rodrick told her when she took the basket.

She bowed humbly before him as she accepted his gift and turned back to look Drew straight in the eyes. Drew stared right back.

"This should help me at the Grand Festival, right Drew?" she prodded him, showing that she was used to his game by then and could play it just as well.

Never one to be outdone, Drew simply shrugged.

"You seem to be forgetting that you have to win the Pacifidlog Contest first," he reminded her.

But it wasn't an insult; he was actually reminding her that she needed that last ribbon, because he wanted to see her there. He wanted her to make it to the Grand Festival.

"I know," she responded, not looking at him. "And I also know that I'm gonna do it, too!"

And he knew she would. He was absolutely sure that she was more than capable of winning this last contest and getting herself to the Grand Festival.

She was looking out at the ocean in front of her, adrenaline coursing through her for her upcoming contest. Her eyes shown with her desire to win brighter than ever before, and he absolutely couldn't wait to see what she was going to come up with.

"Hey, look!" Max suddenly jumped from his spot. "I can see the beach, we're almost back!"

Drew looked away from May and over his shoulder to discover that Max was indeed right; they were quickly approaching Hoenn. Something about that made the pit of Drew's stomach churn.

"You're right, Max!" Ash cheered. "I can't wait to get back and eat something!"

"I think I'll whip up something special for all of us when we get to land," Brock said.

Reluctantly, Drew looked back over to May who was now focused on the horizon, sharing in her friends' enthusiasm as they were finally almost back.

True, Drew had wanted to get back to Hoenn. There was no denying that, and there was a part of him deep down that was extremely glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel, or rather the sand at the edge of the ocean? The other part of him looked at this girl, who had awakened so many things in him within such a short time, and though he believed he would see her at the Grand Festival, he also knew that there was a possibility she might not actually make it.

There was a chance she could lose the Pacifidlog Town Contest, and he didn't know when he would see her again.

He felt his throat constrict at the thought.

Back on Mirage Island, Drew had rationalized that all of the thoughts he'd been having about May might have been triggered from the immense amount of danger they had been in. He tried to believe that once they got back to Hoenn and they separated, things could go back to normal.

Now here he sat, mere minutes away from the shore, most definitely out of danger, and he was still having the exact same thoughts.

May looked just as beautiful as she had in that cave when he'd first woken up. Her eyes were still the most brilliant shade of blue. Her smile was still a beacon of inspiration. She was still brave and smart and strong and funny and capable and just…

She was May.

He couldn't lie to himself and say he could just walk away from her anymore without knowing all of those things.

The girl in question was completely unaware of his inner turmoil, as she wasn't even looking at him. Her and Max were sifting through the Lychee berries in the basket, organizing them by sizes while May was telling Max how good they tasted for five seconds before they set someone's mouth on fire. She playfully dared him to eat one and pushed a berry towards his mouth while he squirmed and avoided lip contact. But they were laughing and it was clear they had a strong sibling bond.

Before he knew it, Drew was hopping off the boat and onto the beach with the rest of May and her friends. Brock had invited Rodrick to stick around for a meal to thank him, but Rodrick insisted he needed to get back to Mirage Island and make sure the Wynaut were doing alright with all of the damage to their Lychee berry trees.

Drew and May stepped closer to him for a moment and each thanked him for all he had done for them, and Rodrick told them that he needed to thank them for helping stop Team Rocket from stealing the Lychee berries from the Wynaut.

"Good luck in yer contest, May," he said "I know you'll do well, and I'll be watchin' from my television and cheerin' for ya."

"I'll do my absolute best, Rodrick, thank you," she assured him with a respectful bow.

Then he turned to Drew.

"And to you, Mr. Drew…good luck in the Grand Festival," he spoke, reaching out to shake Drew's hand. "And with _everything else_ as well."

Drew swallowed hard and nodded.

"Thanks, Rodrick."

It didn't surprise him that this old man could see what May couldn't. If she wasn't paying attention, May missed a lot. But Rodrick clearly missed very little. It was probably the reason he'd grown so familiar with Mirage Island in the first place.

All too quickly, Rodrick was disappearing over the horizon. Drew and May stood side by side in the sand, watching him go until he was just a little speck on the ocean, almost out of sight. May continued waving until they could no longer see him, and the pair turned around to see Brock had set up a small fire, a pot hanging over it and cooking something delicious smelling inside while Ash and Max sat around and watched him work.

The two approached the small group.

"Will you be joining us for lunch, Drew?" Brock asked, stirring the pot's contents. "I'm making plenty enough for everyone."

"Unless Ash tries to eat it all," Max quipped, prompting Ash to stick his tongue out at the boy.

"I can't help that I'm a growing boy who needs to eat," Ash responded, his eyes fixed on the food in front of him.

"Anyway…" Brock shook his head smiling before turning to look back up at him and May. "I think you should really eat something after all that. And you deserve a good meal after taking care of and looking out for May."

Drew almost scoffed. May had done just as much for Drew as he had done for her. Maybe even more, considering one of the reasons they'd almost gotten killed was because of him.

The group in front of him was waiting for an answer. May had turned to face him.

"What do ya say, Drew?" she asked politely. "Would you like to have lunch with us?"

Did he want to have lunch with them? In all honesty, he felt that he really didn't know them _that_ well. He only felt any form of closeness to May, and even that in itself was still brand new. While he definitely wanted to get to know her, but he had more than stepped well outside of his comfort zone within the last day, and he needed a break from all of the newness, because even all those hours after he first realized so many new things, it still felt overwhelming to him.

"I'm gonna have to pass this time," he raised his hands and smiled a bit awkwardly. "I think I'm just ready to get back to my hotel and rest a little bit after all of…that."

He wasn't surprised to see Ash and Max not seem affected by him declining. Nor was he shocked to see Brock nod in understanding and turn back to his cooking.

What surprised him was seeing May look a bit deflated at his rejection, and he felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.

In that moment, he found that he wanted to stay with her, because after having been so close for so long and having her by his side through all of the life-changing events, the thought of her not being there next to him seemed unnatural. But at the same time, he needed the time to really be alone and process everything for a while. He was a loner; he always had been. After spending such an extended period of time with this group and her in particular, he just wanted to hear himself think. Certainly she could understand that? Even if she couldn't understand the thoughts he was having; he barely understood them himself.

Still, he couldn't just leave her there. He could not tell her in some way that he was truly grateful for what she had done for him. He had to find a way to thank her.

May moved to set the basket of berries down on the ground next to her brother when she turned back to face him. There was – what he assumed to be – a sad but empathetic smile on her face. Did she feel the same way about him leaving?

He pursed his lips.

"I guess I'll just see you at the Grand Festival, then?" she tried.

"I'm sure…" Drew started, the paused. "Actually, May, can I talk to you for a minute?"

All eyes were instantly on him, and he fought with everything he had to keep the color out of his face.

He'd preformed in so many contests, with countless pairs of eyes on him and judging his every move, and never once had he felt awkward or out of place because of it. Now, there he stood, with four pairs of eyes on him and he felt like he had shrunk to the size of a grain of sand, being analyzed by a microscope.

May's eyes were especially curious, but she nodded and put herself back at his side, which felt oddly natural, like he had regrown a limb or something crazy like that.

"Uh," he cleared his throat, not really sure how to proceed with three pairs of unwanted eyes and ears analyzing his every move. "Walk with me?"

She nodded, and then the two were off, leaving behind footprints in the sand as they made their way down the beach.

"Should we let them go off on their own like that?" Max questioned, looking in the direction of his sister and Drew.

"Yeah, that seemed a little weird," Ash agreed.

"Let them be," Brock said. "I think they need a minute after everything that happened. Anyway, stew's ready."

That instantly grabbed the attention of the two hungry boys in front of him, and as Brock ladled stew into their bowls, he took a glance down the beach in the direction May and Drew had gone, because being a "love expert" himself, he had always known what those roses meant. Even before Drew seemed to.

 _Good luck, buddy.  
_

* * *

They'd walked a good bit away.

Drew had remained totally silent as they advanced along the beach in the general direction of Drew's hotel. He hadn't really meant to go this far, but he wasn't really sure of what he was going to say, and he definitely wanted to be out of anyone's hearing range when he figured it out.

May didn't complain through the duration of their walk. She just stayed by his side, wordlessly following him and not knowing why. Initially, when they'd landed back on that beach and he'd declined the offer to spend a little more time with them, she found that her chest had grown tight. They had been through so much together in the last 24 hours, and May had seen so many new sides of Drew she'd never seen before.

And it had been nice.

Now, that time was seemingly drawing to a close, and May didn't know if she could handle the fact that once they saw each other again, it would probably be at a contest, and he'd slip back into his old habits and mock her for not being as good as he was. She didn't know how she could handle that if it were to happen, because she now knew he wasn't always like that.

She now knew there was so much more to him than what she had seen in contests past. Would he go back to that? Or would he acknowledge that maybe, there was a common bond between them now. Maybe they could be friends? Maybe they could…

Drew decided that was the moment he could stop walking, and brought May's thoughts to an abrupt halt.

They weren't near anything or anyone. They were just alone, on the deserted beach, with her friends barely visible behind her. She failed to understand what his intentions were, but waited patiently for him to explain.

He turned to face her, his face and eyes dead serious. More serious than she'd ever seen him before, even in contests.

Then, he finally opened his mouth, and she waited.

"I wanted to thank you for saving my life."

Out of all the things she was expecting, that was not one of them. And it caught her off guard, to see him say something so genuine and look so serious and focused and an array of things swirling in his green eyes.

It had disarmed her completely, and it made her blush.

"I really didn't do all that much," she said, looking down at her shoes in the sand because she couldn't take staring into his smoldering eyes anymore. "Really, Drew, it was all the Wynaut who–"

"The Wynaut were nowhere near us when we fell over that waterfall, and I'm sure they took some time getting to use in the rapids when I was unconscious," he said. "That leads me to believe that you kept me from drowning, especially when we were in those rapids. Am I correct?"

May was still not able to make eye contact, but nodded her head sheepishly.

"It was nothing, really," she tried.

"May, look at me."

She was slow to raise her gaze to meet his. His eyes were softer than she'd ever seen them. He looked so sincere and unguarded and warm in those moments, and May didn't know why it was making her heart beat faster or her palms sweaty or her throat dry or why for the love of Arceus she could no longer form a proper sentence. So she decided to let him talk while he stared at her.

" _You_ saved my life," he repeated.

"Yeah, but you saved mine, too," she blurted out, suddenly all too aware of how close they were standing to each other.

"Hardly," he said. "You didn't put me in any of those situations. But I was definitely the reason we almost drowned."

"But then you saved me when Team Rocket was there," she tried again. "You didn't have to do that."

"You're right, I didn't," he admitted. "But I wanted to. I needed to."

 _He_ needed _to?_

May's heart felt like it was going to burst from her chest the moment he said it. She couldn't think of anything to reply with, and she just waited to see what he was going to say next hoping her face wasn't as red as it felt.

"And now I need to say thank you," he shrugged, but still kept his eyes locked on hers.

Much to the anxiety and anticipation in May's already skyrocketing heart rate, Drew took another step closer to her. Her eyes were wide as she looked at him, realizing there could have only an inch of space separating them when he finally stopped.

"I don't have a rose to give you," he admitted.

"I don't–I don't need one," she stuttered.

"I don't think it would be enough," he breathed.

Drew looked at this girl. This beautiful, smart, amazing, humble and wonderful, trembling girl before him. This girl who had unknowingly and completely uprooted everything he thought he was, and was now burning with her face as red as the signature bandana she wore on her head.

He'd gotten good at reading her eyes, and he could see so many things inside of them in that moment. Fear, anticipation, nervousness, confusion, wonder.

And beneath it all, he swore he could see excitement.

He didn't have a rose to give her, as he hadn't asked Roselia to give him one. One rose wouldn't be enough. Nor would a dozen, or two.

She deserved more than all the roses he would ever give her, because he knew there would be more.

But there, in that moment and on that beach, he didn't have any roses. He only had himself, and the erratic heart beat hammering in his chest as he moved in even closer.

He earnestly pressed his lips to her cheek for a few seconds, and felt her shiver beneath him.

"Thank you, May, for saving my life," he whispered in her ear.

Everything inside of him felt like he was on fire. It felt like the world had stopped completely and he was lost in a timeless oblivion when he pulled back from her face. She was staring at him like he wasn't real.

He smiled softly at her then, and stepped back to give her some space He needed it as well. But she looked like she was having trouble breathing. And unbeknown to him in those seconds, she was.

"I'll see you at the Grand Festival in six weeks," he spoke softly.

"Okay," she managed to squeak out.

He nodded, and turned to take him leave while shoving his hands in his pockets and making his way back to his hotel.

"Goodbye, May," he said over his shoulder, a little surprised to see she hadn't moved from where he left her. "Good luck in Pacifidlog."

Her hands were clasped and she was holding them to her chest, like she was trying to hold her heart in place because it was going crazy. He knew the feeling; it was happening to him as well.

Drew walked on and on, completely alone. His thoughts and heartbeat had finally slowed down after some time and some distance had passed, but he couldn't stop thinking about how soft her cheek was, or how stunned she looked when he pulled away from her.

It had only been a simple kiss on the cheek, just for him to hopefully convey to her just how thankful he truly was for the things she had done for him. But that one little gesture had morphed into something he never could have imagined.

That little kiss on the cheek was like opening a door that had always been locked, and throwing the key away in to the middle of the ocean, never to be seen again.

That little kiss had sealed his fate, and Drew's hand went up to touch his lips as he finally admitted to himself what he hadn't before. The one little truth that complicated everything so damn much.

 _Drew Hayden had feelings for May Maple._


	11. Pacifidlog Town

**Chapter 11: Pacifidlog Town–** In which Drew recovers, May competes for her final ribbon, as well as entry into the Grand Festival and things get complicated.

 **Author's notes:**  
\- Based on the episodes, "Mean With Envy" and "Pacifidlog Jam!"  
\- So sorry this took way too long to write and post. I've never been busier with school and now preparations for graduation have begun. I'm doing my best to stay on top of everything, but my classes are a priority over this story so…it's hard to find time to write. I'm doing it as often as I can and I hope you guys can put up with me.  
\- I incorporated May's perspective just a little bit in this chapter, but it's not a very long section. I might do that a little more often, too, but not all that much. This story is still entirely focused on Drew, but seeing May's side every now and then can't hurt, can it?  
\- Wow, a chapter that isn't over 50 pages on Microsoft Word? I must be slacking up. (Real talk, after having written like 40K+ words for the last two chapters of this story, I needed a short chapter. Sorry if I disappointed anyone.)  
\- Don't let the beginning part fool you; this isn't entirely a coffee conversation chapter.  
\- Just wanna give a shout out to the wonderful people who send me reviews and general positive vibes and good energy. You guys keep this story alive. (Seriously, if I didn't get reviews telling me to keep it up, I probably wouldn't keep writing.)

* * *

"So tell me again why you're there in Pacifidlog?" Solidad inquired, swirling her tea in her hand as she stared him down through the monitor. "I'm really confused. A week ago when you spoke to me before dropping off the face of the earth for a few days, you told me you were heading for Littleroot Town."

His coffee burned his tongue a little bit, but he hid his reaction.

She had been right; just over a week ago, when he had spoken to her last (just before the whole Mirage Island incident, to be exact), he'd planned to head toward one of the only towns in Hoenn that didn't have a contest hall, hoping to avoid any and all potential paparazzi. This time of the year, they were even more annoying than usual, most of them hoping to score an exclusive interview with "projected winners" of the upcoming Grand Festival.

But that had been his plan. He was hoping to spend a few days in Littleroot training, and then city-hop for the remainder of his free time until a week before the Grand Festival.

Then came what he had dubbed, " _The Day_."

After everything that had happened, Drew's plans had changed, and he had arrived in Pacifidlog Town two days ago.

Now there he sat, his brand new PokéNav sitting on the desk as he video-phoned Solidad, who he hadn't spoken to since before he'd rearranged his schedule.

He opted not to tell her about what had happened on " _the day"_ for numerous reasons. At the top of the list was the fact that he realized that even if he'd wanted to explain it all to her, he knew he wouldn't be able to. It had been a few days and some of it had faded, but for the most part, the events of that day were still so fresh – _too_ fresh – in his mind, and more than anything, he wanted to just put it all behind him so he could focus on the upcoming event he'd spent two years preparing for.

"The last contest of the season is here in town tomorrow," he pointed out, taking another small sip.

"I know that," she stated. "I also know that you told me it was out of the way for you and you had no intentions of going there."

"My Pokémon deserved a break from all the hard work they've been doing," he tried, but it had been far from the truth.

The truth was, Drew was going through a tough time.

All throughout the week, he'd been trying to focus solely on training; to get his head in the game and get totally prepared for the upcoming _biggest_ contest of his life. But during his practice sessions, he'd found himself frequently distracted, and he'd give up for the day telling himself he still had a few weeks and he'd be fine skipping a day or two…or a week, as it had become. He hated himself for giving up precious hours of practice, but he knew if he couldn't completely ground himself in the work, it wasn't worth it. Top Coordinators didn't ever have problems like that.

The following days since that wretched 24 hours had been a flurry of insanity. A lot of things had happened and a lot of things about him had changed in a very short, traumatic period of time. Even someone as generally detached from human emotions as he had tried to be couldn't escape the soul-crushing PTSD that he'd been going through.

He felt like everything he was had been uprooted all too quickly. He'd never been involved in any life-threatening situations before that day, much less _three_ in a single 24-hour span. Those facts had caught up to him, and they were definitely taking a toll.

The first few nights after he'd gotten back, he had nightmares.

The first one was terrifying. He dreamed he was falling through the sky, hurdling towards the ocean. But there was nothing or no one with him. It was a lonely, endless fall. Just when he'd think he was getting closer and he'd brace himself, he'd never hit the water. It was insanity, and he didn't understand it. He'd been waiting to feel the impact, and the constant anticipation for it was eating him alive.

When he'd jolted awake, he'd walked across town at two in the morning to retrieve his Pokémon from the Pokémon Center. He wanted them to be near him to help calm him down.

The second night was even worse. He was in the river, all alone once again and at the mercy of the currents. They pushed him down and pulled him up. They flipped him upside down and threw him all around. He couldn't tell which way was up, and he fought against the water to find the surface so he could breathe. And he fell over that waterfall again. It was so much worse the second time, having no one to scream with him on the way down.

He'd woken up from that one out of breath and sweating profusely. He jumped when Roselia's hand came to rest on top of his own, as she had been sleeping next to him on the king-sized bed. She looked at him softly, telling him she understood what he was feeling and that everything was okay. He wasn't in danger and if he had been, his Pokémon were there to protect him in whatever ways they could. Masquerain and Vibrava were also at the foot of the bed, watching. Drew thanked his Pokémon quietly and apologized for waking them up.

The third night had the worst of all.

Before he went to bed, he had been outside, attempting to practice some combinations with his Masquerain. When he absentmindedly called for a silver wind, his mind shot to May. He'd more or less tried to mentally block her out of his all thoughts after he'd walked away from her on the beach. Once he'd realized he had taken a romantic interest in her, it scared him. He didn't know what it meant for him, or the fact that she was his opponent in contests, or what he would think next time he saw her, which could have been at the Grand Festival…

It was too much, so he kept himself distracted by trying to train and failing miserably. His timings were off, his combinations weren't in sync, and he couldn't get it together.

So on that third night, when he'd tried a silver wind for the first time since he and May had used it together, he felt his brain go back into overdrive. As he watched that silver wind ripple out of his Masquerain, he couldn't avoid the thoughts of how inferior this solo attack had come off. It didn't look as great as he'd originally thought it did; not without May's own silver wind to pair with.

After that crushing realization, he'd immediately called it a night.

He dreamed he had woken up in the Wynaut's cave, but May was not there with him. He called out for her, but there was never a response. He'd left the cave, looking for her, but she was nowhere to be seen. For the remainder of that nightmare, he searched the island, but he never found her. He didn't care about anything else or finding anyone other than her. The loss of her presence sent him spiraling into insanity.

He'd woken up never feeling more panicked and alone, and he wondered if she was feeling the same things.

After that, he needed to see her. He needed to know if she was handling life as badly as he was, or if she was okay.

Roselia had been beside him again, studying him. Throughout his sleep, he'd been mumbling the name of the girl in red she knew Drew cared about. She also knew that said girl was on her way to enter a contest where they were not planning on attending. But by the time she'd watched Drew twitch himself awake for the third night in a row and took a few deep breaths while staring aimlessly at the ceiling, she felt things were different with her trainer and friend.

And when he turned his head to look at her, she already knew what he was going to say.

 _"I think we should go to Pacifidlog Town to see the contest."_

The next morning, they'd all set out, just less day's walk from the town. They'd arrived before the sun had even set.

Over the course of time since _the day_ , Solidad had been trying to check in on Drew. It started with a few texts that went unanswered, and she had assumed he was just pushing himself too hard in training. She knew all too well that taking proper care of himself just didn't happen when he was in training mode.

By the second day, she was somewhat annoyed, because Drew had _never_ flat-out ignored her before. Sure, there were times when he took a few hours to get back to her, but never this long. So she called him, and it went straight to voicemail, meaning his PokéNav was off. Drew's PokéNav was _never_ off.

The third day, just before she grew overly concerned, he'd finally texted her back. It was a short series of about four messages. He told her he was sorry for not replying earlier, that his PokéNav had gotten waterlogged, he had to get a new one and, above all, that he was fine.

When she asked what had happened to his old PokéNav, he hadn't replied again, and Solidad more or less let it go. She knew he was okay, and that was all that mattered to her. At any rate, she didn't want to seem too much like a parent, which some of her friends had often told her she did. But she did make him promise to call her within a few days. He hadn't replied to that one either, but she knew he would, probably when he'd get to Littleroot town.

Odd thing was, he wasn't in Littleroot Town.

He wasn't one to change his plans so quickly (at least, not without good reason), and she was curious to know why he had, especially considering he was in Grand Festival mode.

"So you went to watch the contest?" she clarified.

"Yes."

"You're passing up training time to watch a single, beginner-entry-level contest?"

"That's right."

"And you're okay with giving up that time?"

"Correct."

She knew it was a lie, and part of her was ready to demand the truth from him, maybe tease him a little for even thinking he could get something over her head that easily.

But the things she noticed stopped her from doing so.

Drew was more stressed out than she'd ever seen him before. She already knew he didn't sleep much, especially when a contest was coming up, but he generally got enough sleep to get him by. Not once before had she ever seen him with the dark circles that were resting under his eyes now. Normally a somewhat tan person having spent so much time outdoors training, especially in the sunlight with his grass-type, Drew's skin seemed slightly chalky and pale. His eyes themselves seemed cloudy and confused, like he was trying to solve a complicated problem and couldn't get a good solution.

With all of the physical abnormalities she was seeing on just his face, she didn't even want to know in what other ways he'd been neglecting himself.

There was no way this was from nerves from the Grand Festival. No, something had happened. Something big. Something bad? Maybe. She didn't know, but what she did know was that Drew wasn't a very open person. He barely let her in on personal subjects, and they'd been close friends for almost two years. If she pushed him to tell her anything, he'd shut her out more than before. He'd already avoided talking to her for a week just because she'd asked if he was okay. At least, that's what she assumed the reason was.

But at the same time, she couldn't skip out on saying something. She cared too much. She wanted him happy and healthy and he was clearly neither of those things at the moment. The moment when he should have been at his happiest and healthiest, when he was getting ready to compete in the contest he'd spent two years preparing for. The Grand Festival, the contest of his dreams.

"I figured I'd check out who'd be going for their last ribbon," he explained. "See that one last person who I could face off against at the Grand Festival."

"Gotcha," Solidad said.

There was an awkward pause then. There were _never_ awkward pauses when they spoke.

Drew bit his lip as the seconds ticked by. He wasn't used to not having anything to say to Solidad, or rather, having too much to say and not being able to say any of it.

He had every intention of telling her about _the day_ and its events when he was ready. But he wasn't over it yet, and he was afraid of what talking about it might bring up for him. Near death experiences were not easy to get over. Realizing you had feelings for someone you shouldn't have feelings for was apparently even more so.

Drew was really tired. He knew so, because in the middle of that silence, he'd found himself yawning, which was oddm considering he'd just finished his third cup of coffee for the day.

When she checked her clock, Solidad calculated the time difference and concluded it was almost 9 p.m. in Hoenn. What amazed her was that they'd been on the phone for almost two hours, and yet barely anything had been said.

"It's late," he commented offhandedly. "I'm gonna get up early and get some training in before the contest, so I think I'm gonna go to bed now."

"Alright," she agreed, hoping he'd get some sleep that night.

She didn't know what was bothering him, but she knew she'd be watching him more closely until he either told her, or she figured it out.

"Goodnight," he bid her, reaching to hang up his PokéNav.

"Drew?"

He looked to her.

"Tell me about it when you're ready."

His face fell a bit, but he nodded nonetheless.

* * *

At first, May started out having a fantastic week.

On that first day of training, she had never felt better about going into a contest.

All of her Pokémon were on fire, giving her the best of the best she'd ever seen coming from them. Although she was nervous about the fact that this was her final chance, and that she _absolutely_ had to win this contest, with the way her training had begun on that first day, it couldn't have been better. She'd never been more confident, and with her friends right by her side cheering her on every step of the way through training, she was at the top of her game.

Until nighttime rolled, and she was alone.

She tried not to think about it all; the events of that day and that desolate island where everything had constantly been a game of survival. Before that day, May had never truly experienced fear for her own life. After then, she became all too aware of just how close to death she'd gotten, _multiple times_ , no less.

The first night, when she and her friends had settled into their sleeping bags around their campfire, she couldn't for the life of her help but wonder how they'd fallen asleep so quickly. How they weren't plagued with the memories of what they had experienced on that island. And of how Drew had kissed her.

Well...he'd kissed her on the cheek, which didn't seem like it should have been so earth-shattering. But it was, because it was _Drew_. and _Drew_ had _kissed_ _her_.

She didn't sleep at all that first night, and she found herself struggling to keep up with the others as they walked closer and closer to Pacifidlog Town for her contest.

The second night, despite all the thoughts she'd been having, she fell asleep almost instantly, her body unable to fight off her exhaustion anymore. Her dreams were chaotic; they ranged from her tumbling off cliffs to being saved by Drew and the Wynaut from Team Rocket's grasp. It amazed her that she'd managed to sleep through it all, but she had tossed and turned all night, and woke up the next morning feeling restless.

The cycle repeated over and over again. To May, it felt like it might never end. But she pushed through, because she knew she had to absolutely give 110 percent to get to the Grand Festival. She'd never wanted anything more than to compete on that stage in front of those thousands of people and show the world that she and her Pokémon could be incredible.

She especially wanted Drew to see that in her.

Since he'd left her alone on that beach, he'd crept into her head and he'd stayed there.

 _"I'll see you at the Grand Festival in six weeks,"_ he had told her.

An unsteady " _okay"_ had been her only reply, but soon after he was gone and her heart rate had returned to normal, she had realized she'd never meant anything more in her life. She wanted to go to the Grand Festival, she wanted to see Drew there and she wanted to win it.

So she pushed herself past her limits to fight off the stresses of her traumatic experience and worked harder with her Pokémon to make sure she'd get there.

At night when she was alone, she would let herself feel it all. She even cried on more than one occasion. But during the day, she was all nerve and hard work, letting little to nothing deter her.

Until the day her and her friends finally arrived in Pacifidlog Town, and she got her first glimpse of her competition.

Just one look at all the coordinators around her, she knew this would be the hardest contest she'd ever been in. Especially when her Skitty started acting up again. Skitty had been great in training throughout the week, mainly because the little kitten Pokémon didn't have anything to distract her. In Pacifidlog Town, surrounded by tons of people and exciting things to see, Skitty was nearly untamable. Especially when her friends had left her to watch Ash and Snorunt practice their ice beam attacks. And when Skitty ran off. And when she met Joshua.

At first, things were great.

It felt good to talk to Joshua and make a new friend before the contest. When she was alone, she could barely focus on keeping her thoughts off of the still-too recent events she'd gone through. But chatting with Joshua had been nice, and she was able to take her mind off of the bad things for a while.

Joshua was clearly very passionate about coordinating, but at the same time, he seemed to be a casual competitor. He definitely seemed to be tough competition, though, and May knew at some point, she would have to beat him to get her ribbon, but just sitting there and talking to someone was relaxing. If anything, it was nice to have a friend going into this competition. She needed one to keep her calm.

Then Erica showed up, and things went to hell.

May went from somewhat okay to completely stressed out all over again, and it had all stemmed from a misunderstanding, when Erica mistook Joshua and her casual conversation as flirting. May would never come between two people in a relationship, and she tried to explain that to Erica, but her explanations might as well have been falling on deaf ears. Erica made it very clear she was out to get May, and May felt more nervous than she had all week.

With an overwhelming week and not enough time to practice with her Skitty at the end, May felt anything but ready for the contest. Damn her pride. But she _needed_ this win.

She knew that from the moment she had that panic attack the night before the contest.

In Pacifidlog's Pokémon Center, boys and girls had to be separated in dorm rooms; there was a girl's hall and a boy's hall. Even after explicitly telling Nurse Joy that Max was her brother and it was more than okay that they share a room, Nurse Joy apologized sweetly and said that rules were rules. So May found herself alone at night yet again. The stresses of her day on Mirage Island and the contest the next day forced her to break down, and she found herself crying in bed.

But as she lay there, sniffling and shaking, her thoughts turned to Drew. What would he say if he saw her like this? How was he doing?

May knew that he wouldn't be breaking down the same way she had been all week. No, Drew would be strong and confident and collected and focused on the task at hand. He would criticize her for whining and tell her if she ever wanted to be taken seriously, she would need to toughen up, not that she'd ever get to his level, of course. Not in his eyes.

Something changed in May from the second she'd had those thoughts. She didn't feel angry or upset, but rather, she found that she felt inspired. She had always wanted to prove Drew wrong in contests, but now that she knew him more, that desire was stronger than ever. Why, May couldn't fathom. But she did know she absolutely had to win, and show Drew that she could be just as good as he was.

She wouldn't leave Pacifidlog without a ribbon.

And Drew would see her at the Grand Festival.

* * *

Pacifidlog was known for being a near-constantly bright and sunny place.

Thus was the case the morning of the contest, while Drew was outside training with his Pokémon. Just because he was having a bit of a rough patch getting back into the swing of things didn't mean he was going to waste any more precious training time. The hours left between him and his Grand Festival were shrinking slowly, and he knew that meant less time to get his team ready for the ultimate showdown. His team of Roselia, Masquerain and…

Vibrava.

When they'd first started working together, Drew had expected Vibrava's evolution to come somewhat quickly. Now there they were, mere weeks away from the festival and Vibrava was still…a Vibrava.

The ground-bug type seemed just as frustrated as Drew was at times, mainly because he felt like he was falling behind his partners. Drew had told Vibrava at the beginning that he wanted to compete with him when he was ready and clearly that day had not come. Vibrava was giving it everything he had in training sessions lately, hoping to prove to his trainer he was capable of true strength in contests.

That was how Vibrava found himself facing down both Masquerain and Roselia on a makeshift practice field in the middle of the woods. All three Pokémon were panting heavily, Vibrava a little more so. He was taking on two opponents at once, after all.

Vibrava was working hard to dodge the dual attacks Drew was ordering from his other Pokémon, and at first, it had been easy. But now, Vibrava was getting more and more worn out, and soon found himself getting hit no matter how hard he tried to move out of the way. Drew never scolded him, though. He knew Vibrava was trying its hardest, and it only frustrated Vibrava more.

With a trainer who believed in him so much, Drew deserved better from him. It ignited a fire in Vibrava; a drive to give his trainer the effort he deserved.

"You're doing great, Vibrava!" Drew encouraged him from below. "Try to dodge this combination, now! Roselia, use petal dance and Masquearin, bubble!"

For a few glorious seconds, the air had been still and clam and Vibrava could fly effortlessly as he recovered from another failed dodge. Then, everything changed when the attacks were fired off.

It seemed like both attacks were coming from everywhere, and Vibrava couldn't even find an opening in the oncoming assaults to move to. He was pounded with waves of petals and bubbles, and they just kept coming. It took everything Vibrava had to stay floating in the air, and the combination was relentless. Every second he felt the sting of the hits, but refused to give in and let Drew down; not this time. Not again.

Drew watched with gritted teeth as his Vibrava took on the attack, unable to dodge. He worried that his Pokémon might be sustaining serious damage from the power of the combined forces of his other two Pokémon.

And the next thing Drew knew, he had to shield his eyes.

At first, he didn't understand what was happening. Only that a blinding white light had appeared and if he didn't raise his arms, Drew was sure he would lose his vision. Under the cover of his arms, he could barely see that Roselia had stopped shooting her petal dance and had moved to shield herself from the light as well. He didn't know where Masquerain was, but he assumed the same was happening.

The light eventually faded after a few moments, and Drew had to rub his eyes to allow them to readjust to the normal daylight. Before he could call out to his team and make sure everyone was present and accounted for, a piercing screech sounded through the air, and a massive shadow passed over him.

The screech and shadow of a Flygon.

When the magnificent creature landed in front of him, powerful wings stretched out and calling out its name, Drew's brain was stuck in a state of cluelessness. Vibrava's evolution was so anticipated for months, that when it had finally happened before him, Drew could not believe his own eyes.

Then, the reality set in, and he was able to process what had happened.

Flygon couldn't recall ever seeing Drew smile more than he was in that moment, but he felt himself smiling, too. Both had worked so hard for so long to get to that point, and they had finally done it. It was a state of euphoria.

Behind them, Roselia and Masquerain were sounding off cheers and congratulations, but the sounds were drowned out. Drew could hear the blood pumping in his ears with the adrenaline rush currently racing in his veins. Here was his Flygon; his reward for his hard work and effort all those months throughout the season. And Arceus, was his newest Pokémon beautiful.

Beautiful and powerful and deadly.

Everything he needed and wanted to win the Grand Festival.

For the first time in a while, Drew felt a renewed sense of excitement for the contest season. He felt more confident and more elated than he had since before he faced his string of losses in the circuit year.

But now with this incredible powerhouse of a Pokémon on his team, there was no way he could lose the Grand Festival.

If he hadn't set an alarm on his PokéNav, he would have forgotten about that day's contest altogether.

* * *

Pacifidlog's contest hall was exactly the way Drew had remembered it from the year prior.

Loud. Crazed. Overpacked.

There were even fireworks going off outside of the stadium before the contest began.

It took him almost a full three minutes to squeeze his way down one row of seats to find an open chair. He muttered off small "excuse me's" and kept his head down as he brushed past fan after fan, and apologized a bit louder when he stepped on someone's foot. The person paid him no mind, way too distracted by whatever graphics were up on the display monitor, and Drew kept going.

When he was finally able to take a seat, he exhaled. Who knew getting through a crowd could be so exhausting? Did he have this much trouble last year?

His mind flashed back to last season, when he'd previously attended the Pacifidlog Town's final contest. Back then, he'd already had his five ribbons and decided not to enter the Grand Festival, but Solidad was going to compete in the contest so he'd gone to watch her. She'd claimed she needed the practice, and Drew scoffed as he watched her accept the first prize ribbon a few hours later. She'd blown through the competition like it was nothing (even though there were some tough competitors for sure). She earned six ribbons that season. Solidad's easy victory in Pacifidlog, as well as her wins throughout the last season had made it all the more shocking when she lost in the top four of the Grand Festival a month later.

More to the point, Pacifidlog was always a ridiculous contest. With so many people having just one chance left to qualify for the Grand Festival, the contest attracted some of Hoenn's best (and most desperate) coordinators as well as some of Hoenn's best (and definitely most desperate) contest fans. As he'd made his way into the building, Drew could have sworn he'd even seen Savannah's group of cheerleader mom friends happily chatting in the lobby. He'd ducked his head and did his best to avoid them.

So to see how many people were struggling to find seats in the arena didn't surprise him. Most of these fans probably wouldn't make it to the Grand Festival, and being the last contest of the season, there was going to be a two-month off period before contests started up again in Hoenn. They were going to take what they could get. And if Pacifidlog had proved anything to him last year, it was going to be a good show.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your patience has finally paid off, because your Pacifidlog Pokémon Contest is about to begin!" Vivian announced when she gracefully took her place on the stage. "And don't forget, this is the final contest before the Grand Festival, so expect to see some of the toughest battling you've ever seen before."

Drew was banking on that. He wanted to observe each and every move in every round and know which one of these final coordinators would try to stop him from taking his title. Originally, he had gone to see May, but walking through town all week and seeing a few of the coordinators she'd be up against practicing, he had his doubts. She'd surprised him before, but could she really make it all the way to the Grand Festival in her first year? He wasn't sure.

Vivian proceeded through the judges' introductions as per the standard contest opening ceremony went. He wasn't able to hear most of what Vivian was saying over the crowd's insanity. But finally the MC motioned to the entrance of the stage, meaning the first entry was coming up.

Drew almost fell out of his seat when he saw the entrance of contestant number one play out.

A heavily cloaked woman and her Meowth drifted down from the ceiling surrounded by fog and shouted greetings to the audience as she made her way down. It was overly tacky and Drew couldn't help but wonder if a spectacle like this was even allowed in contests. Regardless, the judges didn't stop her, clearly intrigued as to what she would do, and her appeal performance went on.

Using fury swipes, the Meowth carved an ice sculpture of a man and a Persian by his side, which was quickly edited down to a Meowth instead. Something about this woman and this act didn't bode well with Drew, but he watched on as she walked away while the next act followed up.

No score was displayed for her, or any contestant in this contest. The audience and the coordinators had to wait to see who would advance when the round came to an end. It was a Pacifidlog tradition; one that kept the suspense and excitement going right before the Grand Festival.

Appeal rounds were always Drew's favorite portion of competitions to watch. He loved critiquing combinations and morphing them in his head. Sometimes, watching the opening round made him think of the future, and he'd often thought about life after he'd win his title. Drew wanted to compete in other regions, and eventually become a certified contest judge. Maybe some day he could take Mr. Contesta's place in the Contest Committee…

Coordinator after coordinator came and went, each performing unique and clever opening acts to try to earn themselves a spot in the battle rounds. Drew couldn't find one appeal he didn't like; these coordinators truly were competing like this was their last chance, and for most of them, it was. Everyone in that arena knew that, and it brought the highest level of excitement Drew had ever seen in a regular contest. There seemed to be more energy in this stadium than at the R3 contest he'd

One coordinator who really piqued his interest was a boy named Joshua and his Houndoom. Just their entrance alone was choreographed. When Houndoom emerged from is Pokéball, he performed several flips in the air before launching a fire blast attack onto his landing spot. There stood the powerful Pokémon, surrounded by its own flames; the audience was mesmerized, and Drew was intrigued.

Vivian wondered aloud just how Joshua would follow up such an impressive entrance and finish his performance. The coordinator in question answered by combining swift and shadow ball. How much time and energy it must have taken to train this Houndoom to control both of these attacks at the same time, Drew didn't know. What Drew did know what that he was going to the battle round, no doubt.

Another coordinator who captured his attention was a girl named Erica, whose Jynx demonstrated serious power in a blizzard and psychic combination. The tornado of swirling icy wind sent a chill through the entire audience, and Drew couldn't help but shiver into his jacket a little bit more as did those around him.

There were a few other good ones here and there, but the showcases from that Houndoom and Jynx really stood out. Still, there was appeal after appeal after appeal…

And no May.

By the time the 34th person performed for the day, Drew found himself chewing on his lip and paying less attention to the appeals. He knew May was going to be at this contest; it was her last chance to win her fifth ribbon this season, and she had told him that she was going to be there. Still, with 34 people down, he hadn't seen or heard anything from her, and it made him nervous for whatever reason.

Well, he knew the reason, but admitting he had feelings for May was still something entirely new to him, and he did his absolute best to bury it deep down and try to ignore it. And for the most part, it had been easy. He still thought about her as he worked to get past the traumas of Mirage Island, but not being next to her helped a great deal. Ignoring it all just seemed like the best and easiest option as he trained.

…Ignoring it became extremely difficult when Vivain announced her as the final contestant in the first round.

"And please give a warm welcome to our final coordinator of the day, May!"

Logically, he knew she was going to be there. It was not new information in any way that he was going to see her at this contest and he knew seeing her had been the major reason he's opted to go at all. Just to see how she was doing, just to see if she was okay, and to know if she would be going to the Grand Festival. That was it, plain and simple.

But Drew could not for the life of himself fathom why his breathing hitched when she first ran out on stage. How his pulse rate quickened ever so slightly when he saw her running out and waving to the crowd. Why he instinctually licked his lips when he focused in on her smile.

His legs started bouncing on their own accord, and he could feel the curious stares of several contest fans around him. Why the boy who had more or less been perfectly still and absolutely silent throughout the whole show so far had suddenly melted into a pool of nervous energy. His ears burned a little as he tried to stay focused on May and the Pokéball in her hand.

Part of him wondered which Pokémon she would use. She was completely unpredictable in her appeals, and no two of her performances were the same. It unnerved him a little; to know that there was someone out there – his competition, no less – that was capable of surprising him so much. And her team had only grown stronger and more diverse since she'd first stumbled into his life.

Would she use her Beautifly and its famous stunning silver wind? Or her Bulbasaur's razor-sharp razor leaf? Perhaps her Combuskin's fire spin could pair nicely with its quick attack or sky uppercut? There was so much potential with any appeal May did, and with the weight of this contest, Drew was expecting her to go all out. To hold nothing back; to give her biggest and best performance yet.

"Skitty, take the stage!"

There was no force powerful enough in all of existence to stop the loud groan that escaped his lips when May's pink kitten Pokémon bounced onto the stage. While the rest of the audience cheered for the adorable creature, Drew pursed his lips and shook his head, unable to mask his anxiety over May's choice. Even more of the audience around him gave him suspicious and pointed looks. He ignored all of them.

May's Skitty was a force to be reckoned with when it was at the top of its game, completely focused and undeterred…which was about five percent of the time. Drew had seen very little of May's Skitty in contests, and those performances had been rough at best. If anything, luck was what won them that contest; dumb luck and a whole lot of faith in her Skitty. What on earth had she been thinking? Did she really think that her Skitty, who had skirted through its first contest, would take her to the all the way to the Grand Festival with this type of competition?

It made him nervous; the thought of not seeing May at the contest. It made him a little angsty; the thought of her not being there when he accepted his first ribbon cup. There was a lot riding on this little tiny Skitty in the center of the stage, and he hoped with everything in him May knew what she was doing.

The first thing she called for did not have him convinced.

"Skitty, use assist!" she yelled.

Drew shrunk back into his seat, his eyes dead locked on the small Pokémon as it jumped up and summoned an orb of white light. As he waited for what would come, he felt as though he was stuck in a realm of confusion and slight upset. Assist? That specific move to start what was the most important appeal of her contest career so far? She was gambling, and she was gambling early. There was no way to tell what could happen.

May was a sharp contrast to everything he was in those moments. While he was suffering from extreme dismay and utter loss as to what she was doing, he could see her face as she watched her Pokémon go forward. The level of confidence that beamed in her eyes was immeasurable. All he could do was sit there and wait to see what she was going to do.

Assist turned into razor leaf, and a series of leafs shot out in front of Skitty as it awaited its next order. May didn't skip a beat, launching a blizzard attack – which surprisingly worked on the first try, he noted; they'd been practicing – into a double slap. Skitty's speed and accuracy were unlike what Drew had seen before and expected. Clearly May had been working hard with her Pokémon.

The result of May's appeal left a shower of sparkling ice fragments and crystals raining down all around her and her Pokémon. Not only had she pulled off an impressive triple combination (she'd been the first to do so at this contest, Drew also noted), but she also managed to showcase her battle style in her appeal as well. How quickly she could think on her feet and turn nothing into something. While it wasn't the most amazing appeal of the round, it was good. Drew had to admit it was good.

And that he was relieved; relieved to see how much she'd gotten better with appeals. Relieved to see how well the audience and the judges had taken her performance.

He just hoped it would be enough to get her to the battle rounds.

* * *

Drew had never been an impatient person.

He wasn't impatient in all the years he spent waiting to start his journey as a coordinator. He wasn't impatient when he went through the season slowly earning his spot in the Grand Festival. He wasn't impatient during all those long months of waiting to get his Flygon.

No, Drew had never been an impatient person…until that day, while he and the rest of the crowd waited to see who would advance to the battle round and who was done for the day and for the season.

It surprised him when he noticed his left leg bouncing up and down. It shocked him when he realized he'd been counting the seconds in his head after Vivian announced the judges needed time to deliberate. And it stunned him when he exhaled as the judges announced the results were in. Did he really care this much?

Truth be told, Drew felt a sense of loss after May had left the stage, because he honestly didn't know if she was going to make it through the round or not. She'd done well, but so had everyone else. Could the judges appreciate the simplicity of her attacks, the risks she took or the complexity of having to think an appeal through with no prior practice? He sure hoped so, because if they didn't, she wasn't going to the Grand Festival.

"Now its time to announce the winners of the first round," Vivian announced with a card in hand.

Drew's attention instantly snapped up to the large display screen overhead, as did so many others surrounding him. Almost all of the chatter in the stands ceased as the audience waited to see which coordinators impressed the judges the most. There were a few hushed whispers around him; speculations of who would go on and who would not. Drew kept his thoughts to himself.

In his mind, May's appeal had been simple yet elegant. Had it been early season, when all of the rookies were still around just starting out, her appeal would have shined. But here, only four coordinators would have a shot at the final ribbon of the contest season. This wasn't a place for simple appeals.

No one was surprised to see Joshua had come in first place in the appeals round. His entry with his Houndoom alone was impressive enough to secure him the highest score and his following combination only boosted his numbers. In second place was the Jester woman; a choice Drew didn't 100 percent agree with seeing as she'd used props more ore less. But carving ice in an appeal had worked, and the craftsmanship left the audience more or less enthralled. He wasn't surprised to see she'd made it through. Following in third was Erica, the girl Drew recalled to have a Jynx. He wasn't shocked to see that she'd gotten though as well, but he was a bit deterred.

There were three faces already on the video board; three of the four coordinators who'd surpassed their competition and who still had a shot at leaving this contest hall with a ribbon; even going through to the Grand Festival if any of them had earned four ribbons prior to this contest.

Not one of those faces belonged to May.

Drew kept his lips pursed while Vivian waited a few moments before announcing the last appeal round winner of the contest season. It was a big moment for sure, and the audience was practically vibrating with tension…or maybe that was just him, because he couldn't stop the nervous energy from bouncing his leg. It was an annoying nervous habit he'd seen in other people, and he'd never known himself to do it before that day.

"And the fourth and _final_ coordinator to move on to the second round of judging in the Pacifidlog Pokémon Contest is…"

Everyone around him slowly leaned forward in anticipation of the announcement. Drew meanwhile sucked in a breath, bit his lip and closed his eyes all at once.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's May!"

There it was; the name he'd so longed to hear. Her face lit up the video board and was placed right next to her opponents. The audience cheered on the victors.

For whatever reason, he clapped his hands with those around him. He never did that, ever. She wasn't all the way through yet, but she was one step closer than she had been before, and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest.

He could imagine her backstage, celebrating with her Skitty and/or her friends in the moment. A huge smile planted on her face as she twirled her tiny Pokémon in her arms, thanking it and praising it for doing such a good job. Her brother and other friends would be there too; Brock would be patting her on the back telling her she deserved it, Max would be cheering and saying he knew she could do it and Ash would probably be hugging her– he stopped himself immediately. That wasn't a scene he wanted to picture, ever. But it was all true; she always got overly excited when she'd made it through an appeal round and her friends were always supportive.

And he couldn't help but be proud of her. The girl had come such a long way. There was still no guarantee that she'd win this contest, but she'd pulled out of tough situations and managed to come out on top when things were not in her favor before. She could do it again; she had to do it again. He wanted her at that Grand Festival; he wanted nothing more in those moments than to see how she would handle her appeal on that big stage.

A couple behind him was discussing the results as well. He'd done a good job of ignoring the conversations of those around him throughout the show so far, but when he realized they were talking about May, he instantly tuned in.

"I don't agree with that last one at all," the boy pointed out. "Her performance wasn't that great. I would have much rather seen that boy with the Bayleef should have gone through."

"I would have preferred to see the Nidoran go on."

Drew just rolled his eyes.

May would prove to them she'd earned spot in the battle rounds.

* * *

He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised when things went haywire in the first battle; after all, any contest he'd seen May compete in never failed to have a string of strange occurrences.

This time, it came in the form of the most pathetic and oddest battle he'd ever seen.

Drew watched as the Jester and Erica both took to the stage for the first battle of the day, both waving eagerly at the crowd as Vivian explained the rules of the second rounds. There appeared to be a few awkward moments on the stage as the two competing Pokémon stared each other down; or at least, the Meowth seemed really hesitant to get started. Rightfully so; Erica's Jynx had already proved it was an exceptional Pokémon in the first round.

The match started and the crowed cheered as the timer started ticking away.

Erica called for the first attack; a lovely kiss, which Meowth swiftly dodged and moved in to counterstrike with its fury swipes…until it actually got close enough and it froze. Drew had never seen a Pokémon retreat from a battle because its opponent…was chasing it?

It was true; the Meowth was fleeing as the Jynx tried to capture him in some weird gesture. Was this an attack? Everyone seemed confused; even the MC and the judges.

"Folks, something strange seems to be happening…" Vivian admitted, unsure of how to explain the spectacle on the stage.

This went on for a few moments, and eventually the confusion in the stadium morphed into frustration; the people were promised a great battle, and they wanted a battle they would remember. Especially considering one of these two coordinators was trying to earn what was, arguably, the most coveted ribbon of the entire season.

Just when it seemed match couldn't get any stranger, it did.

Drew swore he had to have heard the command wrong; there was absolutely no way the Jester had called for her Pokémon to use transform…right? A Meowth using that move didn't make sense.

Either Erica hadn't heard the Jester's attack, or she was ignoring the simply ludicrous idea that transform was even possible, but she called for her Jynx to end it all with a hyper beam. Just when Erica's Pokémon was charging up the attack, however, things dramatically shifted.

The entire stadium that was once filled with noise fell dead silent as they all watched the Meowth on stage mimic its appearance to match a Sunflora.

That was the moment that Drew realized a few of things.

One; this stunt was completely fake, because even if it were possible for a Meowth to learn and effectively use transform, it would have changed into the Pokémon before it. There was no Sunflora on that stage, nor had there been all day.

Two, what advantage could a Sunflora possibly have against a Jynx, anyway? A grass type against an ice type? The pairing made almost as little sense as the possibility of this Pokémon even knowing transform in the first place.

Three, Meowth's trainer suddenly started ringing alarm bells in his head when Drew really focused on her. As did the Meowth; they both seems strikingly familiar to him. Something his brain was seemingly trying to block him from remembering. Drew stared at the pair intently; he _knew_ that he knew these two… Maybe he'd seen them in another contest...

Drew fell back in his chair and narrowed his eyes on the girl coordinator. She was so wrapped up and heavily cloaked, it was nearly impossible to see her face or her body, and he couldn't match her to anyone off the top of his head. Still, he was absolutely certain he knew this woman and her Pokémon.

Vivian tried to make sense of it all just as everyone else in the arena was. The Jester didn't give her time to process it though, and the audience watched in awe as she called for a razor leaf attack. Sure enough, the "Sunflora" produced leaves and tossed them at the Jynx. But Erica didn't let herself be distracted by the opponent's apparent miracle, and she and her Jynx stopped the razor leaf instantly with a blizzard. Erica was a fierce opponent.

The Jester seemed a little flustered that the novelty of her "transform" move had worn off, especially on her opponent, and she shrunk a little bit when she called for her Pokémon to repeat the move.

Yeah, right. There was no way she could…

The Sunflora disappeared, and a Kirlia stood in the spot where it had once been.

The more Drew watched this entire show go down, the more frustrated he became. This entire battle was a joke, and he waited for the rest of the stadium to realize this wasn't real. Once again, there hadn't been a Kirlia in this contest at all; none of it added up.

"What now?!" Vivian announced, still somehow buying the whole act. "An amazing Meowth using transform again to become a Kirlia?!"

Maybe Erica realized something was up, because she kept on the offensive and called for another lovely kiss. The "Kirlia" managed to dodge…or at least, it tripped and missed the attack when it crashed onto the ground. And finally, the judges seemed to be a bit taken aback; suspicious, even.

Still thinking they could pull this off, the Jester and the Meowth went for yet another transformation, and perhaps their worst one yet. Drew had to admit he was impressed; not by the fake use of transformation, but by the fact that the Meowth had been able to stuff a giant Wailord costume on itself and able to change into it effectively in such little time and effort. But as far as everything else went, it was never more painfully obvious that this entire routine was false.

It seemed as though that was the moment _everyone_ finally realized that none of this was even remotely realistic, and Erica decided it was time to make her final move. She commanded her Jynx to use psychic, and the powerful Pokémon easily lifted its opponent with little to no effort; even more indication that this Wailord was a sham.

No one was totally sure what happened, but Drew deduced the Meowth had poked a hole in its inflated costume with its claws, because suddenly, the "Wailord" was soaring through the air with a different Pokémon screaming in terror as it soared.

Thankfully, after relentless waiting, the judges finally understood that something was wrong, and the Jester was instantly banned from the contest. Erica was instructed to advance to the final stage while the Jester's performance was deemed illegal, and it infuriated both her and her partner who'd run to appear at her side.

With no further reserve, they ripped off their disguises, and revealed themselves to be none other than Team Rocket.

Had he not been so consumed by the rage that began to boil in his blood from the mere sight of them, Drew might had kicked himself for not realizing this fact sooner. But there stood the three individuals responsible for putting him through literal hell and back just over a week before. There stood the reason he was almost killed multiple times and stranded on Mirage Island. There stood the trio who kidnapped May and made several attempts to hurt her in doing so.

 _May.  
_  
These people had been backstage with her for hours throughout the day, and while it was obvious they hadn't made any attempts to harm her in any way, the fact that they'd been so close to her all day still twisted in his stomach. He'd never felt so protective over anyone or anything in his life, and he knew that May was completely capable of protecting herself, even against idiots like Team Rocket. But still, he was outraged beyond measure.

For what they had done to both himself and her, he was boiling.

How dare they show up here. How dare they taint and disrespect this contest. How dare they make him, her and everyone else there look at them after the trauma and pain they'd caused him. And how dare they put themselves within such a close distance of May, after he'd used his Masquerain's silver wind to relay the message they were never, _ever_ to go near her again.

Drew rose to his feet, fists balled and nostrils flaring. He was sicker of these people than he thought humanly possible.

He was just reaching for Roselia's Pokéball in his pocket to teach them a lesson when Erica took over the situation.

Team Rocket launched a net intending to capture the psychic type Pokémon when it turned the net back on them. And with a little chastising directed at them from its coordinator, Jynx launched a massive hyper beam at its enemies and sent them flying out of there without another word.

The situation was handled, and Drew slowly sat back down in his seat. Vivian was shooting off apologies to both the audience and Erica, and congratulated the coordinator on her win. She also announced there would be a brief intermission as stage crew and contest supervisors would confirm everything was truly okay before the second battle would commence.

Drew only glared at the hole in the ceiling.

He better not see those people ever again; especially not in a contest hall.

Especially not near her.

* * *

For someone who was generally very lucky in contests, Drew considered May's matchup against Joshua in round one extremely unfortunate.

Skitty was a naturally tiny Pokémon, but seeing it across the battlefield, facing that Houndoom made it seem even smaller. Neither May nor Skitty's faces showed any signs of fear, though, no matter how intimidating their opponent was. The only thing May seemed to have going in her favor for this match was that neither type held a distinct advantage over the other. It was a battle that would truly be determined in the favor of the better coordinator.

Two minutes into the battle, it wasn't clear who would come out on top.

"Now, Houndoom, use swift, let's go!" Joshua shouted.

"Skitty, dodge, then tackle!" May countered.

The battle had been back and fourth and the points more or less stable as each coordinator chipped away at the other's score. How Skitty had managed to stay so on top of the match, especially against such a tough opponent, was nothing short of amazing.

Skitty bounded and leaped between the assault of stars shooting towards it. Not one of the glowing shapes touched the Pokémon as it rammed into Houndoom; a direct hit that took off even more points. May didn't stop.

"Now, follow it up with double slap!"

Joshua refused to cease his momentum either, though. He instantly recovered from the previous attack and ordered for a dodge followed by a shadow ball. May's Skitty took the hit, and her points also fell. Neither coordinator batted an eye, though. Their strong will to outdo the other in the match was radiating throughout the whole stadium. Everyone watching was totally immersed in the excitement.

"Wow, this second battle of the first stage is certainly one intense competition!" Vivian said. "Both May and Joshua continue to hammer away at each other without giving an inch! The competitive energy between these two is truly white hot!"

It was true; every word of Vivian's comments was true.

Drew hadn't recalled the last time he'd seen a battle this in sync and this well balanced. The results could go in anyone's favor, but neither May nor her opponent showed any sides of giving up or relenting. They were totally engrossed and connected to their Pokémon the entire time, and the potency of their battle against one another hit something deep inside Drew. What it was, he couldn't tell; he was only sure that some chord had been struck.

He watched as the Pokémon fired a flamethrower and blizzard, neither side showing any signs of weakness. This was _real_ competition. This was coordination at its purest and most basic form. This was everything Drew had grown to love about competing. This was the best part of contests.

The _rivalries_.

Joshua and May were putting on this incredible and striking contest battle because they were _rivals_. And this was what he found himself wanting with May; a rivalry.

The second Drew's brain picked that word to describe it, his lips pursed. Was that correct? Weren't rivals supposed to be on the same skill level? May was nowhere near as experienced as he was in coordinating. Or was she?

Down there, on that stage, even after her Skitty's blizzard had been stopped and her points plummeted, she recovered instantly. She was showing the traits of a professional coordinator; not letting herself get tripped up by one single mistake. She showed that she understood that the match wasn't over, and that she intended to give her best efforts until the very end.

Could she and Drew co-create a battle just exciting as this one? He definitely wanted to know.

He knew he had feelings for May; ever since that day on that island, when they thought they would die together, or when she saved his life, or when she was taken away and he fought so hard to get her back, or when they'd combined their silver winds together…a part of his heart was unwillingly and unknowingly captured by this girl.

This girl who had stumbled into his life so many months ago and only grown stronger and more amazing every time he saw her.

And there she stood, totally oblivious to the fact that he was watching her and admiring her battle as she poured her heart into every attack she called. It only made him feel more attracted to her. It made him want to share this amazing battle with her, and many others; others that were entirely their own.

It made Drew want to share this biggest and most important part of his life with her; coordinating.

He wanted May to be his rival.

"Now Houndoom, use swift attack!"

"Now, Skitty, assist!"

Everyone around him was surprised by the call. Some shot forward in their seats in anticipation while a few others verbally complained that it was a bad call. Drew stayed still, with the blood pumping in his heart and his eyes dead focused on May, who was totally confident in her choice of attack and her Pokémon.

Skitty managed more razor leaves from her Bulbasaur; the attack shot forward and knocked away Josha's swift attack. May called for a tackle combination, and Josha lost major points for allowing his Houndoom to be hit by the same combination as before.

The battle never slowed down; Houndoom got back on its feet and charged up another shadow ball while Skitty went in for a double slap. The shadow ball was faster and May took another direct hit, but she didn't seem phased at all. If anything, she only seemed more invested in the fight. She and Joshua were actually praising each other mid-battle.

Arceus, Drew wanted that.

And moments later, the two ended up deadlocked in the same attacks as before. Blizzard vs. flamethrower, only this time, blizzard seemed to be more effective. Both May and Joshua's points had evened out, and were falling at the same pace as the two coordinators encouraged their Pokémon to keep it up.

"Now, Houndoom, full power, let's go!"

"Go, Skitty; TURN IT UP!"

The whole audience watched in suspense to see who would fall first, but the two attacks' energies combined to create an explosion. Everyone collectively gasped when Houndoom was the first to fall. It rose to its feet just as the clock ran out, but the damage was done.

Joshua's Houndoom had lost, and May was on her way to the final stage.

The pair ran towards each other at center stage. Skitty and Houndoom both acknowledged each other easily, and Joshua and May clasped hands together. With firm shakes and huge smiles, Joshua put a free hand on May's shoulder and whispered something to her, and she smiled and nodded. Drew felt himself grow just a little uneasy at how close they were, but also found himself distracted picturing the same scene at the Grand Festival's main stage, him as a substitute for Joshua.

He could see it; he and May meeting in front of the thousands of people, after what would have been the greatest contest battle in the Grand Festival, ever. Their hands joined together as they both acknowledged just how fantastic the battle had been. Drew's Flygon and his Roselia right beside him as he would move onto the next round...

Arceus, Drew had never wanted anything more.

Not even the ribbon cup.

The sheer realization of that thought nearly knocked him out of his chair.

* * *

May and Erica shook hands before their battle even began; they were clearly also close friends going into the fight.

Now, after the battle had begun, that friendship was far from evident.

Well, it was evident; Drew could see these two girls had a great friendship going for them and they respected each other in the battle highly. But the level of severity of the battle was higher than anyone had anticipated. Even higher than May and Joshua's fight had been.

They both wanted the win so, so badly. And it was so, so obvious.

Maybe it was because these two had found rivals in each other. Maybe May realized this was the absolute last obstacle she had to overcome if she wanted to get into the Grand Festival. Maybe it was both. Maybe it was something entirely different.

He wasn't sure. He just knew he was heavily invested in May getting this final ribbon.

So his heart skipped a beat or two when May's Skitty was lifted into the air by Jynx's psychic attack and instantly put to sleep by a lovely kiss combination. That Jynx was a formidable foe for sure; it seemed fitting that May's final challenge to get into the top contest would be her toughest battle yet. May's points fell drastically when Erica topped off her triple combination with a direct hit blizzard.

Thankfully, suffering a direct hit also woke up May's Pokémon. Skitty bounced back ready to go not a moment after landing on the ground.

May tried her luck with assist, and it worked out well. She managed to pull off Beautifly's string shot, which bound her opponent in tight webs and gave her a lot of room for opportunities. She could have followed up with tackle or double slap and scored big points.

But, because it was in her nature, she took a risk. May called for assist again, and she more or less screwed herself up with it.

Drew cringed as razor leaves cut away the threads Skitty had trapped its opponent in; Jynx was free and May lost her advantage as quickly as she'd gained it.

When would she learn that relying on luck couldn't carry her through all the time? In the past, May had had several major successes with her Skitty's assist attack, but surely she had to recognize that those had all been instances of luck by now. If she hadn't, she needed to realize it sooner rather than later. The Grand Festival was on the line, and making rookie mistakes like that wouldn't get her there.

May was not a rookie. Not anymore.

He waited to see how she would react to getting caught by Jynx's psychic again.

 _May is hardheaded._

It was another thing Drew mentally added to his ever-growing list of things he was learning about May as he watched her call for another assist attack to counter an oncoming blizzard attack. String shots flew forward into the coming ice storm, and they froze instantly and snapped away into nothing.

"It's clear that May's going to stick with assist…" Vivian pointed out, sounding just as confused as everyone who was watching. "But it looks like it's doing more harm than good…"

Even with the MC pointing it out, May was not to be deterred. She shocked everyone in the arena when she called for assist again.

 _…May is_ extremely _hardheaded._

At the rate she was going with this attack, she was going to lose all her points before the clock could run out, or before Erica could get a knockout. May was literally losing the battle for herself. There had to be an alternate motive here. Something he wasn't quite seeing.

Bulbasaur's vine whip sprung forth from Skitty's paw, and Erica countered yet again with psychic. Skitty was thrown back. May's response? Assist.

He wanted to scream. He wanted to shout down at her to use another move; literally anything but assist again. But he held his tongue.

It shocked him a bit again when he saw the petal dance come out. He knew her Bulbasaur had mastered the move, but still…seeing his own signature attack come from May was…humbling? Did he feel honored? He didn't know. He just remembered the time their silver winds had come together, and wondered if combining their petal dances would yield the same splendid results. He wondered if she felt the same things when he'd used silver wind.

But now wasn't the time for that.

Now was the time for nerves. He was scared for her, especially when that Jynx withstood the petal dance easily. Although Erica lost points for taking a hit and the petal dance being a dazzling attack, she still held a very clear lead over May. Het spamming of assist had gotten her nowhere; if anything, it had derailed her entire offense.

There were 30 seconds on the clock, and it didn't seem like enough time for May to surge back and make up for the difference in points between herself and Erica. It began to feel like Drew was going to watch May lose, and not make it into the Grand Festival like he'd hoped for after all.

And she would be upset; Arceus knows she would be so upset.

When that would clock run out and May was not awarded her final ribbon, and when it would occur to her that she would not be entering the Grand Festival, should he go see her? Should he tell her he'd come to watch her compete and that he was sorry she lost? Or maybe ask her what she'd been thinking but consistently using an attack that was random and refused to work? Should he just leave? Was seeing her at all even a smart idea?

Drew had seen may cry before, and it hadn't been a pleasant experience for him. His mind raced back to that day, when she was so heartbroken over her loss in Rubello Town, and she'd walked past him sobbing and asking him to leave her alone because she knew how badly she had screwed everything up. That image replaying in his mind was hard enough, and he wasn't sure if he could handle it again. Especially not when things had changed so drastically between them since that day.

The things that had changed…like all traces of the progress she'd made as a coordinator seemed to be nowhere on this final stage. Or all the things and feelings he'd realized about himself because of her. Where were all of those wonderful things and happier times now, as the clock ticked away all too quickly and May used assist for one last time?

Assist again, when there was nothing left to lose. When there was no time to spare and no more moves to make, she'd called for the same attack she'd been using the whole battle that had brought her little to no success.

 _Unless…_

Skitty fired off a powerful fire spin, thanks to May's Combusken. The attack was so intense, it managed to push back Jynx's ultimate move when Erica called for it. The flames from the fire spin overpowered Erica's oncoming hyper beam, and crashed into Jynx directly. A straight shot from a fire attack on an ice-type Pokémon. It was devastating, and it must have been what May was waiting all along.

There had been a method to her madness, and Drew finally understood. He burst out into nervous and excited laughter as May's Skitty followed up with a final tackle attack. It earned him a few odd looks which he was more than happy to ignore.

Jynx fainted. The match ended. May had won.

With barely a few more points and a sure knock out, May had won.

Drew was the first person to stand and applaud; the rest of the crowd followed immediately after. He'd never felt so relieved in his life; suddenly, that mental image of him and May facing off at the Grand Festival became stronger than ever, and he knew it was going to happen.

She had effectively played the entire audience throughout the battle. By using her assist attacks over and over, May knew it was only a matter of time before she would get a fire-based attack with her Combusken on her team. She only needed to get one to take advantage of the type difference, and from then on, she could capitalize on it. But summoning failed attack after attack accomplished an incredible feat.

It brought such an insane suspense factor to the battle. Even Drew had been on the edge of his seat, emotionally invested in this battle and wondering like hell why this girl was trying something that wasn't working. But she never faltered; she was cool and collected every time. For every failure, the audience grew more and more anxious, where as May only grew more and more excited. She'd known that fire attack would come eventually, and her intuition and faith in her Pokémon had earned her the final spot in the upcoming Grand Festival.

May had become a serious coordinator. She'd overcome all the odds with a little refined skill and a whole lot of luck, but he decided it really didn't matter.

He watched her with nothing but pride as May raised her ribbon to the audience, and they all cheered for her.

And he was glad he had decided to go to Pacifidlog Town.

Seeing her happy and healthy helped him cope with all of the trauma and anxiety he'd been facing since their terrifying ordeal on Mirage Island. Watching her battle had shown Drew she was truly a capable and worthy coordinator. And watching her win had gotten him more excited than ever to compete in the Grand Festival.

The Grand Festival where he and she would finally face off again. This battle had more than proven it was going to be the match of a lifetime.

Flygon's Pokéball strapped to his belt suddenly felt 10 times heavier and he clapped for her.

He was tempted to go down on stage and congratulate her as well, but he decided to decline. And he exited the building shortly after she and her friends had headed back stage to collect her things. There was still plenty of daylight left, and lots of time for training. He had a new partner to work with, and he knew which battle he was specifically saving him for now.

Since that first day he'd caught Vibrava, he had been unknowingly raising it to take her on in the Grand Festival.

Against an unpredictable opponent like May, he'd have to be better than he'd ever been before.

* * *

He'd just begun searching for a good, secluded spot to train when his PokéNav buzzed.

He was expecting this message to come through, and was surprised it took her so long to send it. Well, maybe not that long, as the contest had just ended and he'd only just exited the building moments before. But he had known this message was coming eventually.

 _Hoenn's Grand Festival is going to be really interesting this year._

She'd been following along with the live broadcast back in Kanto, he was sure. But she was more right than she could have ever guessed.

Drew only had one thing to respond to Solidad.

 _I'm just sorry you won't be there in person._

He intended to make it the best Grand Festival there ever was, not because he was going to win.

Because he now had a rival to beat.


	12. Italian Latte

**Italian Latte–** In which Solidad gives Drew some final advice before the Grand Festival.

 **Author's notes:**

\- Mentions of the episode, "The Ribbon Cup Caper."  
\- I bet you guys thought I was going straight into the Grand Festival chapter, huh? Well, no, and let me take a moment to explain why quickly. That's about four episodes to pull dialogue from and transcribe, let alone add all the additional stuff I'm going to put it. I also have to account that the Grand Festival in Hoenn creates the bridge for the story to go into Kanto, so I have to try to write this chapter to set up that transition. Translation: I'm expecting that it's going to be a LONG chapter, and I want to take my time writing it so hopefully I can create something you guys can enjoy. Hopefully you'll like this little piece to hold you over until I can get through it. And I apologize now for however long it takes me to get it done with school. The consolation is that I've already started it, so there's that. I'm doing my best guys, I promise.  
\- Spoiler alert, I'm changing ages from the anime canon in this chapter, because I'm sorry, but there's no way Ash is still 10 years old.  
\- Italian Latte: coffee made with espresso and steamed milk.

* * *

 _Three days._

Three days, three days, three days, THREE DAYS.

There were three days until the beginning of the biggest and best contest around. Drew could practically feel himself shaking with anticipation as he was counting down the hours until then. Ever since he'd arrived in Slateport the week before that morning, the week had truly rushed by. In a mere 48 hours, Drew would be on the preliminary stage, presenting his first appeal in the Grand Festival.

It was another beautiful and sunny morning in Slateport City. Drew strolled throughout the streets of the city, noting how it grew more and more crowded in the coming days as the festival approached. He was making his way back towards the eastern side of town, where the park, which was home to the Grand Festival was reserved. Anyone was welcome in the city portion of Slateport, and it was flooded with thousands upon thousands of locals and tourists gearing up for the main event. Only coordinators who qualified for the festival itself could go near the arena before the start; they were also required to stay in the onsite dorms as well.

The notion of staying in a dorm wasn't appealing to Drew in the least, but these dorms were top quality. Private rooms were reserved for every competing coordinator, and the location next to the beach couldn't be beat. He couldn't complain about his lodgings even if he wanted to, and almost hated himself for not entering the festival a year prior so he and his Pokémon could have stayed longer.

Having arrived so early, Drew was given his pick of any room he wanted. He chose a room on the top floor, at the end of the hall. He was somewhat away from everyone, and the first to see when the sun would rise over the horizon; the first to wake up so that he could get out there and practice. It was a benefit he'd taken full advantage of, daily.

By the late afternoon, when he and Masquerain had gotten their fill of training for the morning and was making their way into town for lunch, his Masquerain caught his attention. Drew saw his Pokémon flutter towards the water, and his gaze fell upon a ship heading for the harbor.

Oh, right. The S.S. Flower was set to arrive that day.

The Flower was a magnificent ship, or at least, that was what he inferred about it after having so many pictures of it spammed in his email inbox from the contest committee. They'd sent him message after message and promotion after promotion, telling him he was granted permission to board the ship if he'd wanted to enjoy the trip to Slateport, because he'd won his five ribbons. Anyone who qualified for the festival was allowed to ride the ship for free with their friends and family to the Grand Festival arena. It offered multiple luxury dining options, moving theaters, spas and lots of other over-the-top unnecessary things. It even housed the ribbon cup, and it sat on display in the ship's coordinator hall of fame for anyone to get an up-close view of the first place prize.

Riding the ship was widely considered a prestigious honor in the coordinating world. Drew could recall Solidad raving about her experience on the ship the season prior. He, however, had no interest in the whole ordeal, for a few reasons.

One, the ship wasn't set to arrive until three days before the contest started, and Drew cringed at the number of coordinators who opted to waste their training time every year to ride the boat. The Flower usually left its port in Lilycove City with three days to go, and the whole promotion stated it was to give the competitors one last chance to relax before the contest kicked off. What coordinators in their right minds would want to wait that late to get to Slateport, and would want to waste the training time so close to the festival? The ones he was going to beat, that's who.

Second, he didn't need permission to ride on a boat to tell him he and his Pokémon had worked hard to get there. He already knew that, and so did his team. After all, he and Roselia had only been training for this event for two years, and his other Pokémon had been preparing for over 10 months as well. So showing his five ribbons to some dockhand at a boat harbor didn't seem all that necessary.

Third, he had no need for the things that were offered on that ship. He didn't need the fancy restaurants or the movie theater and he definitely didn't need to get a few moments to look at the ribbon cup. He'd be holding in in a few short days, anyway.

So he'd declined every email offer he'd received to ride on the S.S. Flower. This was the day that the ship was to arrive and finish transporting the last wave of coordinators who would be competing, and Drew found himself sitting at a small deli across the street from the harbor to get a glimpse of the last leg of competition. His sandwich and soup were barely remembered as he eyed all of his fellow coordinators as they stepped foot on dry land.

There were more than he'd anticipated. Drew watched as hundreds of people got off of the ship, eager to look all around and acknowledge their surroundings. At one point, he looked away as he reached for the guidebook he'd received when he'd first checked in and flipped through the pages.

While he looked down, he missed seeing May and her friends step off the ship and wander down the road going to sign in at the front desk and get assigned to her dorm room.

According to the book, 247 competitors had qualified and enrolled in Hoenn's Grand Festival that season; that was 247 people he'd be going up against.

Initially, he'd known there would be quite a few going for the Top Coordinator title this year, but he was not expecting 247. Especially considering that only 64 would advance to the second appeal round. The odds were horrendous; it wasn't even a 50/50 shot, and just over 75 percent of the competition would be eliminated on day one. He had to prove he was better than everyone there to win, but in that moment, the reality of it all really felt like it set it.

Drew had to be better than Hoenn's best 246 other coordinators. The fact hit him a little harder than he'd ever expected it to.

His eyes drifted over his competition one more time before he looked back down to his Masquerain who had just finished eating. He knew he wanted to open the competition with Roselia, and he planned on using Masquerain to perform in the secondary appeal.

And he had some really big stunts planned for Masquerain.

"Are you finished?" he asked his bug Pokémon politely.

The small creature looked up to him and nodded.

"Good. Let's train."

* * *

As if he wasn't stressed out enough, he got a text around 6:30 p.m. that made him all the more anxious.

Why, he didn't know. He'd known she wasn't going to be there for a few weeks now. It was not new information that Solidad wasn't going to be able to attend this year's Hoenn Grand Festival. She'd told him that during the week while they were traveling together. But it still stung a bit when he'd gotten that text in the middle of a practice session that if he wanted to talk to her one last time before the festival began, he'd have to call her within the next few hours.

Solidad was set to travel to Johto with several other Kanto-based coordinators to give presentation as to why Kanto should host the next season's Wallace Cup; a coordinator's tournament that jumped from contest region to contest region every year. Competing coordinators from all over the world went to compete, because the Aqua Ribbon was accepted in any region's Grand Festival.

Rumors spreading throughout the coordinating community said that Wallace, the Hoenn gym leader and coordinator who hosted the massively popular event had his eye on the Johto region that year, mainly because contests were brand new in the region and he wanted to increase the popularity. He'd announced the conference for the upcoming year's event would be held in Goldenrod City, and invited every region to give an informative presentation on why their region would be best to host the tournament. From there, he would pick whichever he felt deserved it the most.

Solidad, being a well-established coordinator already, was asked if she would be interested in attending the conference and being one of five Kanto coordinators to represent her region. She didn't know it, but Solidad was more or less the pride and joy of Kanto contests; it was a fact she was too humble to ever acknowledge or admit. Maybe it was because she wasn't a Top Coordinator, or maybe it was because it was her natural self to be overly modest.

At the conference, Solidad would be incredibly busy and wouldn't be around her PokéNav as much as he would like. He respected her reasoning completely, but it didn't make him any less disappointed. He'd wanted to be able to stay in touch with her as the contest went on; get instant feedback after he was done. And though she'd promised she'd be in touch as much as possible, it still was a bit deflating.

Her flight was set to leave early in the morning, before the sun even rose, and she needed to be in bed early that night before, not only so she could be ready to represent Kanto as soon as she landed to the best of her abilities, but also because Soidad was a stickler for getting _at least_ eight hours of sleep every night. She wouldn't leave her bed until she felt completely rested. He didn't know how she did that; he couldn't lie in bed to save his life.

The doors of the dorm hall slid open automatically as he crossed the lobby over to the dining room area. Thankfully, the kitchen was open and taking orders 24/7 for all the coordinators training for the Grand Festival. Sleep and eating schedules tended to go off the rails while the coordinators were training for the contest. It wasn't uncommon to have a have a surge of anxious coordinators come in and place orders for dinner to the chef at 3 a.m. the days leading up to the start of the festival.

His PokéNav buzzed in his jacket pocket alerting him to a text from Solidad.

 _I'll call in about 10 minutes; trying to cram these last few shirts into my suitcase!_

Drew rolled his eyes with a small smirk in response. The notion of Solidad packing multiple outfits was slightly hilarious. He'd realized early on that she wasn't a girly-girl by any means, and she preferred to stick with her simple athlete's dress, red rain boots and signature orange overcoat. It was 100 percent her style, and the thought of her dressing differently was amusing.

His mind briefly flashed back to watching her appearances in the Sinnoh Super Contests, where dressing up was required. She always looked cool, calm and confident when she performed, but Drew knew her so well, and he could see the distaste in her eyes as she habitually pulled at the straps of her Super Contest costume.

As he entered the dining room, the smells from all kinds of delicious foods wafted through the air. Drew himself actually enjoyed the food prepared in the cafeteria. Famous chefs from all over Hoenn were brought in to prepare the meals of the region's best coordinators. Still, he avoided it when he could. Walking all the way back to the dorms wasted so much time.

"I don't know what to get!" he heard the familiar voice shriek.

He'd barely made it through the doorway when he spotted her, and her friends. Their backs were to him, and he noticed her face buried in a menu while her friends all held theirs to the sides. She was in the middle of the group.

"C'mon, May, just pick something already!" Max complained, his foot tapping in impatience.

"Why don't you try the ramen?" Ash prodded, pointing to a spot on the paper. "You love ramen, it's your favorite."

"It is, but everything else sounds so yummy…" she droned on. "I want to try it all…"

"I'm just thankful I don't have to cook tonight after that fiasco on the S.S. Flower today!" Brock laughed from beside her.

So they had come on the Flower. Drew thought it odd he missed seeing them exit the boat, and contemplated how many other coordinators and their Pokémon he might have missed. But then felt eyes watching him, and he looked to the right out of the corners of his eyes to see two coordinators seated and indeed watching him. He'd been standing still in the middle of the entry-way silently for almost a minute, and he instantly snapped himself into motion. He made a B-line for the coffee station, where he's gotten his morning caffeine fix in the beginning of the day, keeping his head down and rushing the whole way.

It felt like it had been forever since he'd seen her, and a part of him realized (somewhat in shock) that he had missed her. In reality, it had only been five weeks since he'd seen her compete at the Pacifidlog Contest, but even longer since he'd actually spoken to her. And he wanted to; it was a fact that was terrifying.

He'd admitted to himself all those weeks ago that he had feelings for this girl, but he hadn't let himself dwell on the fact, because he was painfully unaware how deep those feelings even went, he had a contest season to focus on _and_ she was a rival to him. She was someone he had to beat.

 _Contests first, feelings second._

That was the motto he'd adopted and told himself he'd stick with.

But he couldn't help but think back to "the day," where he'd seen so many sides of her and realized he'd barely scratched the surface. There were so many unknowns to the girl in the red bandana across the room from him, and he craved to solve the mysteries she radiated. Why, he didn't know. He just knew he'd never felt drawn to anyone else the way he had felt drawn to her.

"We're gonna be here all night, May, C'MON…" he brother complained again.

"Max, food is _very_ important to me," she chided him. "I appreciate these things, unlike you. Just give me a minute, will ya?"

Her brother groaned and her other companions laughed. But with the smallest one getting more and more impatient, Drew knew he needed to get his coffee and leave before he was spotted. He definitely wanted to talk to her, but the heat he felt in his face told him it wasn't the best time.

Why he would be so nervous to see her, Arceus only knew. But he was, and he couldn't stop those feelings.

Feelings were weird; no wonder he'd never bothered with them before and no wonder he was trying his hardest to suppress them now.

That was what he needed more than anything; to suppress those weird butterflies in his chest until they eventually just went away.

 _Contests first, feelings second, always._

But despite his mindset, his fingers still twitches at his sides while he watched her, and he knew the best course of action would be to leave.

Coffee. He just needed to get his coffee and slip out undetected. He could do that.

When he finally reached the table, he made a horrific discovery. The coffee pots were not turned on, and worse, they were empty. A little sign was placed on top of one of the machines.

"Fresh pots of coffee are brewed daily in the morning; please use and enjoy our convenient Keurig with over ten flavors available!" the little notecard read.

Sure enough, on the opposite end of the table sat a Keurig with a bowl of assorted flavor cups.

Drew's eyes went back and forth between his coffee-making enemy and his contest rival across the room.

He groaned inwardly and reached for the basket.

* * *

Once he was safely settled in his dorm room, he set up his PokéNav on the desk and went to his speed dial menu. Solidad's number was the only one saved to it.

She answered on the fifth ring, took a few steps back from her screen and waved to Drew from the middle of her bedroom.

He'd never seen her bedroom in person, but had seen it on multiple video calls, and it never ceased to amuse him how utterly Solidad the room looked. Cream-colored walls with a tan carper, dull red curtains hiding he window, a huge sleigh bed with an orange comforter and red pillows. There was a bookshelf to the side of her bed, completely filled with countless novels on various subjects. On the opposite side, a small bedside table with a Lapras desk lamp; no doubt something she'd picked up on one of her adventures, because she had a habit of picking souvenirs that bled sentimentality to her (Lapras was her first Pokémon).

On the middle of the bed sat an uncharacteristic pile of unorganized clothes. She stared them down and began sorting them again.

"I lied," she said, turning her focus back to an open suitcase on the bed. "It's taken me longer than five minutes to get this all together."

She began leaning on top of the suitcase, trying to weigh it down enough to seal the zipper all the way around and failing. It was amusing to say the least, and Drew couldn't hold back his laughter.

"I never thought I'd see the day," he joked. "Solidad, professional Pokémon Coordinator, pride and joy of the Kanto region, defeated by a _suitcase_."

"Whatever, dweeb…" she half-laughed-half-grunted, putting all her effort in closing the bag.

After a few more moments of Drew's chuckling and witty comments, Solidad finally succeeded in her task and plopped down on the seat at her desk, facing Drew with an accomplished smile that screamed, 'I'd like to see you try to close it.'

"You could just pack lighter," Drew offered, mentally debating if he even wanted to try the coffee he'd brewed in the Keurig.

"This conference lasts _five_ days," she explained. "I have to be perfect and presentable for _five_ straight days. You're not a girl, so I don't think you know this, but we tend to dress up for big events."

"Or super contests," he quipped.

"Speaking of big events and super contests…" a smile formed on her lips as she reached for her mug on the desk.

Drew rolled his eyes again but didn't say anything. Solidad blew the steam away from her tea before she took a few small sips.

"Just two more days to go," she finally said. "Are you excited?"

"I am," he admitted. "I really am. My Pokémon all look so good, Sol. I wish you could be here to watch them perform. They're going to put on a show to remember."

"I know they will; you've all worked so hard for this," she smiled warmly. "And now you're finally there. You're going to do so well."

"Well, the plan is to win," Drew smirked.

With his comment, Solidad pursed her lips. A strange emotion settled in her eyes, but her face was unreadable as an unnatural smile seemed to overtake her face. Drew waited for her to speak, or explain, but she didn't right away. The two sat in a strange silence for a moment before Solidad finally nodded.

"Yeah," was all she said. "Yeah."

He didn't know how to take it. He didn't know what she was implying, if she was implying anything at all. And it left an unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach; one he didn't quite understand.

The silence continued, and he realized his fingers were drumming on the sides of his still-full cup.

"What are you thinking?" he asked her when he gave up trying to figure it out.

Her eyes shifted around slightly.

"I'm just a little nervous for the convention is all," she supplied, her eyes not returning to the screen. "It's kind of a big deal; I'm nervous about representing my whole region."

"Bullshit," Drew said back, staring at her intently. "You're never nervous; not about stuff like that. What are you really thinking?"

She blinked a few times, seeming surprised he didn't believe her at first. But Drew knew Solidad, and he knew she was a terrible liar. She bit the inside of her lip for a second before finally looking back at him and reading his face.

In the time that they had been friends, it still amazed her how much like family Drew had become for her. She loved Drew like the sibling she never had but always wanted, and she knew since the day she'd realized how much she cared for him, she would do whatever she needed to do to look out for him. Now, with the biggest contest of his life just over 48 hours away, he sat there, staring her down harshly without even realizing it. He radiated nervous energy while being completely unaware that he was doing so, but she knew he was beyond anxious, even if he couldn't admit it to himself.

She'd noticed it in the way he instantly demanded to know what she was thinking about. And the way his fingers were drumming on the sides of his little disposable plastic coffee cup. But especially in the way he hadn't even made a move to drink his coffee at all during the entirety of their conversation thus far. From what she could see, the cup was still completely full.

It worried her; to know that he was so nervous to compete in the Grand Festival, that not only would he not admit to himself that he felt that anxiety, but also that he had sold himself on the idea that he would win.

"We've been friends for too long," Solidad smiled and looked down, shaking her head slowly. "You're too good at reading me now, kiddo."

"You're actually just the world's worst liar," he said, and then paused for a second. "Tell me what you're thinking, please."

Again, she pursed her lips, but she slowly brought her eyes up to meet his through the screen. And then she sighed; it made his stomach twist a little. He didn't know what to expect; was something wrong with her?

And then, she spoke.

"Don't take this the wrong way," she warned him softly. "You know that I believe in you more than anyone else does, and I will always be supporting you no matter what."

"I know, Solidad."

"But let me ask you something," she continued, never wavering. "What happens if you _don't_ win this Grand Festival?"

Of everything she could have said; for every possible scenario that could have escaped her lips…that was the last thing he expected.

He sat there, looking blankly at the monitor and at the face of his best friend in the whole world as he finally realized what that emotion he couldn't quite name earlier was: concern. She was concerned for him.

And…he didn't know what to say to her, because he hadn't thought about it. The possibility of losing seemed, well, impossible. He'd worked so hard for this. He'd barely stopped training and preparing for this festival since the beginning of the season. The idea that all of that hard work he and his Pokémon had put in meaning absolutely nothing completely dumbfounded him.

"C'mon, Solidad, that's crazy" he laughed out, though it sounded foreign to him. "You know I got this. I've been training for two seasons to get here. There's no way I'll lose."

"No, Drew, that's not what I'm saying," she amended. "I know you've worked so hard – this season, especially – to get here, and I'm proud of you for al that you've accomplished so far. You're a great coordinator; I know it, you know it and a lot of people know it."

"Then what are you trying to tell me?" Drew asked. "What are you saying?"

"I'm just saying…" she bit her lip. "I'm just saying, you've got your heart and your head set on winning this, and that's great. We're all rooting for you, Drew, really…but what if you don't win? What happens then?"

Again, Drew's brain seemed to pause. Losing this Grand Festival didn't even seem like it could happen. It was like his brain couldn't formulate a proper response to the question. Every sentence he wanted to start was the same. _'I will win.'_ But he knew that wasn't what she wanted to hear. He knew that she wouldn't take that answer; not now, when she seemed to have something in her head. And for the first time, Drew started to realize there was a part of him that was unsure. What if he really didn't…

He looked away from her, and his eyes landed on his untouched coffee in his hands.

"I've spent two years working for this," Drew said, more to himself than to her. "Two long years of nonstop work. I even skipped the Grand Festival last year because I knew I wasn't ready for it."

Then the thought occurred to him; had that been the right decision? Aside from his loss to Solidad, he hadn't faced any other problems in his first season, and he breezed through it with confidence and swagger. Now here he was, going into the festival after a shaky season, having faced a few losses. He'd had to bounce back a few times this season, and that wasn't something he'd experienced in his first drive in the contest circuit. Had he killed that momentum when he skipped the previous Grand Festival? Could he have won last year?

Solidad watched him with worry. She's never seen him look so deflated before in his life; not even a few weeks ago, when he seemed so off his game for whatever reason (he still hadn't told her about whatever had happened to him, and though he seemed to be better from it, she still wondered). But she definitely hadn't meant to make him unsure of himself.

In the time that she'd known him, she'd realized Drew wasn't someone who took other people's advice, and she knew it would be tricky to talk to him about this. She didn't know how to navigate him out of the mindset he was in, but she knew she had to try. She wouldn't let him go into the Festival like that.

No one believed in him more than she did; she had meant it when she said it. No one wanted him to win more than her; her entire heart was filled with hope for her best friend. But he reminded her of herself, and she didn't want to see him repeat what she had gone through one year prior.

"I remember going into my first Grand Festival last year," she told him softly, and smiled sweetly when he looked back up to her. "I was just like you, Drew. I had every ambition and every bit of confidence in myself; I was going to win. I was absolutely and definitely going to win, ya know? Well, I know you know, because that's you right now. And we both know what happened at that Grand Festival."

She stopped, and encouraged him to say it.

"You lost…" he breathed after a moment of silence.

"I lost," Solidad closed her eyes and sighed for a moment. "I lost in the Top Four, and it…well, it sucked. It sucked pretty badly and I didn't handle it too well."

Drew's brows furrowed and he tilted his head in confusion.

"You seemed okay when we spoke on the phone after…" he admitted.

"Yeah, I remember that call," she nodded. "I remember you bashing Helen's Dewgong for like, 10 minutes straight."

"That was the coordinator who beat you?" he clarified.

"Yes, Helen," Solidad confirmed. "Really nice lady, I spoke to her the other day. I can't wait to see her in Johto tomorrow…but yeah. I remember laughing with you and so much of that conversation, and I did seem okay after the loss, huh?"

Drew nodded.

"After you hung up, I cried," she told him. "I cried all night long. I freaked out and I sobbed and I went through a whole box of tissues. I just cried."

The confession stunned him a bit. Drew had never seen Solidad cry, or anything close to it. For the entire time they'd been friends, she'd always radiated positivity at alarmingly high rates and she didn't seem to be capable of holding an ounce of sadness in her body. She was a constant ray of sunshine, and she'd often chased the clouds away from him when he faced his occasional bad moods. The idea of Solidad crying was just something he couldn't see.

"I cried because I went into that Festival thinking I was definitely going to win," she continued after a moment. "I'd done so much to prepare and to get there, that I didn't think losing could happen. I was still such a young coordinator; I still had so much to learn. And even though I wanted that win, I was nowhere near ready for it, no matter how much I thought I was.

"She, what I didn't know at the time was, I still had so much to learn. I couldn't get that back then, because I felt like I was at the top of my game…but I wasn't. Oh Mew, I was not there, Drew."

It was a sobering statement, and his eyes went wide for a second. He remembered that day, watching her shake hands with the girl who'd bested her in the Grand Festival. Solidad had been her usual graceful self, an easy (although somewhat sad) smile on her face as she left the stage and her victorious competitor Helen headed the opposite way to the final stage.

The match was one he'd never forget watching. Seeing Solidad's battle live on television had been an eye-opener. Solidad was someone he didn't think could lose, and it had been the only time he'd ever seen it happen. Still, remembering it was possible was insane.

The memories of that battle were still vivid for him. The second her Slowbro had fainted, he remembered feeling scared for her; it was the first moment he realized that she could actually lose, and she was the most talented coordinator he knew. But when her Pidgeot was left to face Helen's Dewgong (an ice type) and Manectric (an electric type), the combination of a double type disadvantage proved to be too much.

And he remembered talking to her, just hours after her loss. She'd seemed okay more or less. Knowing that she had broken down, probably after he'd gotten off the phone with her made his chest feel a little tight. It had been over a year, but he couldn't help but feel guilty and that he should have been there for her, even though he had no idea how to handle people when they cried. But she had done so much for him, and he suddenly felt like he hadn't done enough for her.

Suddenly, Drew felt a little off balance; like if he moved at all, he would fall out of the chair he was sitting in. It was a thought he'd never had before that moment, but it hit him like a sac of bricks. Solidad was the best coordinator he'd ever known or faced, and he would be the first to admit he was not as good as she was yet. But if she could lose, so could he.

And it horrified him; after all of the months of grinding and practice and work to get to that point…to know it could all be in vain…

"But that's the thing about coordinators," she quickly added when she saw his face twist. "We never stop striving to be the best. I learned that after my loss in the Grand Festival; I let the experience help me grow."

It hadn't been Solidad's intention to upset Drew or scare him in any way, but from the unreadable expression on his face and the inner turmoil clearly raging in his eyes, she knew she had done just that. Unintentionally, but still; she had done it. Her wish was to simply warn him that should he face a loss in the festival, he didn't need to take it so hard.

When she lost in the top four at her first Grand Festival, it felt like the world had ended, and there was a brief period of a few hours when she wanted to give up coordinating all together. But after a few encouraging moments with her Pokémon, she knew she couldn't give it up. She knew she had to keep striving to be great. She knew there would always be something for her to learn, and she wanted nothing more than the same positive mindset for Drew.

He could win; he could be a top coordinator in a few short days, but he could also have his soul crushed. Coordinating was everything to him, and watching him face his losses that season had hurt her just as much as it had him. She didn't want to think about how badly he'd suffer should he lose in the festival, but just incase, she wanted him to know there were ways to move on after the loss, and lessons to take from it.

"Is that the real reason why you went to compete in Sinnoh this season?" he asked her slowly.

It didn't surprise her that he'd pieced it together. He was a smart kid and he was extremely perceptive. Give Drew a puzzle and some time, and he could solve it for sure. It was how he always managed to string together such incredible combinations. It was one of the many reasons why he was meant to be a coordinator; he was always good at thinking on his feet and coming up with answers.

"Yes," she affirmed. "After I lost, I took a lot of inspiration from my opponents. I had a chance to talk to Helen at the after party. She's from Sinnoh originally. She told me traveling and competing in different regions had given her a lot of insight into coordinating. It helped her come up with new strategies and approaches for contests.

"That was what I wanted; I wanted to break away from what I had done all season and try new things. Work on new techniques with my Pokémon and come up with new appeals. Going to Sinnoh was one of the best things I've ever done, honestly. Breaking away and trying something new helped round me.

"Now I feel so ready for this coming season in Kanto. I'm energized and pumped up. I have new things I'm ready to showcase and my Pokémon are just as excited as I am."

It was quiet for a few moments as Drew absorbed her words and wisdom. He'd been so set on winning for so long, and just the thoughts of him losing had seemed completely impossible.

"All in all, losing feels like it really sucks," Solidad said softly. "But it's not that bad in the grand scheme of things, because that's what competition is. It's forever working to be the very best, like no one ever was. And from my experience, knowing that there's always someone better just makes me want to work harder. Someday, I will win my Top Coordinator title, but until then, I have to work to surpass those around me."

His three losses of the season flashed through his mind. The times he'd felt feelings of disappointment and loss. The first loss to Robert had been the hardest, because aside from Solidad, he'd never lost before, and he hadn't expected to; especially not in the first contest of the season. It had showed him he would face other powerful coordinators throughout the season. He wasn't the only tough coordinator in the Hoenn Circuit. He took that caution with him from then on and went on to win three straight contests in a row after that.

The second loss came from the Coordinator Grace and her impressive Medicham. After that defeat, he realized that he couldn't underestimate anyone. A powerhouse coordinator could come from anywhere.

His third loss didn't come from a contest, but his Roselia had been injured in a pre-contest battle. He had his ego to thank for that one, and it reminded him of his current mentality: how he was so assured he'd win, he was fearless and careless.

But the season wasn't a loss, despite all of those tough times. He had to remind himself of that.

As his struggles from the season flashed through his mind, so did his successes. His ribbon case sat on the edge of the desk, and he slowly reached for it. He flipped the case open and admired his five ribbons from the season; the proof that he and his Pokémon had worked hard to get there.

Drew knew that the Grand Festival would be tough, and he knew he could win it, but he understood Solidad's words as well. She was right in telling him that he couldn't underestimate anyone he came across; he'd learned that lesson during the season on his own. But he also realized he wouldn't be there if he hadn't earned his spot, and he wouldn't have earned the spot if he didn't deserve it.

There was always someone better; he just had to watch out for who could be better than him, and fight harder than he ever had before.

He looked up to her then, his face a little less void and his eyes a little more hopeful, but she still wasn't 100 percent sure what he was feeling. But he nodded to her, and she felt a pang of relief in her chest.

She smiled sweetly at him.

"You're going to be so great, and I'll be screaming so loud, I promise you'll hear me from Johto," she told him.

"I'm sure I will," he sighed. "Thank you, Solidad, really. Thanks."

Drew reclined back into his chair. The clock on the top of his PokéNav screen told him it was still somewhat early, but he knew Solidad would want to go soon so she could rest before her flight.

"You're gonna do so well over in Johto, too," he told her. "If you were serious earlier, don't be nervous."

"Yeah," she sighed as well, leaning back. "We're both doing big things. Weird, huh? When did we grow up?"

"I was always grown up," Drew amended, a smirk gracing his lips. "You still have a ways to go."

She rolled her eyes at his remark, but was happy to see him joking. That was a good sign. She didn't want him to be nervous going into the contest; he had no reason to be. She just wanted the best for him.

"Whatever," she laughed lightly. "Sometimes I don't know where you get your crazy ideas from."

Their lighthearted moment ended and it became silent for a moment as Drew and Solidad looked each other down. They were oceans apart, but they were so connected in the moment; both chasing their dreams and both more determined than they'd ever been before. Solidad wanted to make Kanto proud, and Drew wanted to become a Top Coordinator. They were both so close, both within reach, and they knew they could do it.

Drew had two days before the start of his Grand Festival. Solidad, however, only had hours to go before her quest to get Kanto the next Wallace Cup began.

"Do your best," Solidad spoke slowly. "With or without the title, you're already a top coordinator. I'll be watching along the entire time."

"Same to you," he nodded. "Get over to Johto and make me proud, but remember that even if you don't win the Wallace Cup for Kanto, know they chose you for a reason."

She beamed at him, then, and he had to fight to hold back the laughter. It was so in her nature to never expect or believe the compliments she received, no matter how accurate or well deserved they were. But that was just who she was, and that was the girl he'd grown to love like the older sister he never had.

"Are you okay, though?" she asked him. "I don't want to leave if you're down."

"No, I'm fine," he assured her. "What makes you think I'm not?"

"I've never seen you not take a single sip of coffee while you had a cup before," she said, her eyebrows raised.

Drew blinked a few times before he remembered the untouched cup in his hands. The coffee was no doubt cold by now, and he didn't dare drink it.

"Oh yeah," he bit his lip. "I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it, though."

"Why'd that?"

"It's an Italian Latte flavored drink...that came from a Keurig."

Without warning, se burst out into laughter, and he looked at her strangely for a long moment before she finally spoke again.

"Didn't I just give you a speech on embracing things you're unfamiliar with?" she wiped at her eyes.

"I think it's time for you to go to bed," he chided her, placing the cup back on the desk and eyeing the clock again.

"Yeah, probably," she agreed. "But one last thing before I go…"

"What?"

"Did you hear that the Ribbon Cup was stolen on the S.S. Flower before a group of people helped the police track it down?"

Drew's eyes went wide. He'd been so wrapped up in his training over the past few days that he hadn't heard anything about the news. It shocked him, to say the least.

"You're kidding," he said, leaning forward. "What happened? Who got the cup back?"

"I don't wanna spoil the story if you don't know yet," she grinned. "I'll send you a link. I'm going to bed now."

"Please do," Drew prodded, figuring a few minutes of reading a news article regarding the Ribbon Cup would be worth the loss of training time. "Goodnight, Solidad. Have a good flight, okay?"

"Thank you. Don't overdo it with the training these next few days."

"I won't," he assured her.

"You so will," she stuck her tongue out. "Goodnight."

With that, she ended the call, and Drew reached for his Pokéballs. He released his team into his room, save for Flygon, who he figured still needed rest after their grueling training together earlier in the day. Roselia and Masquerain appeared on either side of him, seeming a bit confused by the random summons.

"The Ribbon Cup was almost stolen today," he told them, and they seemed just as surprised as he had been. "Solidad going to send me an article about it; I figured you guys would want to hear about it, too. You've both been working for months to get it, after all."

Both of his Pokémon nodded and his PokéNav buzzed with a text message. Drew tapped the notification and his Internet browser opened, taking him to the news story Solidad had sent him. A picture of the prized Ribbon Cup stood at the top, the headline reading "The Ribbon Cup Caper: Unlikely Heroes Stop Would-Be Thief." Roselia leaned in closer and Masquerain floated closer to him.

Drew read aloud to his Pokémon.

 _A group of travelers aided police in thwarting an attempted robbery of the Hoenn Ribbon Cup._

 _The Ribbon Cup was nearly stolen earlier today from the S.S. Flower by Brodie Boxer, infamously known throughout the Hoenn region as 'the Phantom Thief.' Boxer managed to escape from the authorities again, but he left without the Hoenn Contest Circuit's grand prize. The attempted robbery comes just days before the Hoenn Grand Festival in Slateport City._

 _Officer Jenny credited a group of trainers aboard the ship for helping locate and thwart the thief._

 _"We're still tracking Brodie and we won't give up until he's in custody for his crimes, but today we came closer than we ever have before, and that's thanks to this incredible group of young people who helped us," Jenny said. "Without their aid, Brodie surely would have been successful in stealing the Ribbon cup."_

 _The group consisted of Ash Ketchum, 12, of Pallet Town, Kanto; Brock Harrison, 18, of Pewter City, Kanto; Max Maple, 7, of Petalburg City and May Maple, 12, of Petalburg City._

He paused for a second when he said her name, because of this all happened when she was on board. Of course she and her friends were involved. Every contest she'd ever entered always had a strange string of occurrences; odd circumstances seemed to follow them everywhere. That group definitely did have some insane adventures...

Roselia and Masquerain exchanged a look when Drew had stopped reading. Rosliea put her hands to her mouth to stifle her laughter and Masquerain suddenly became aware of what all those months of signs had meant. All the times he'd seen his trainer approach this girl, the one time Drew seemed to want nothing more than to get her back on that island…it all made sense. Espcially when Roselia quietly nodded up to him in confirmation.

The second he'd realized he'd stopped, he tried to play it off, cleared his throat and kept going.

 _Raoul Contesta, director of the Pokémon Contest Committee, agreed with Nurse Joy that the group was vital to the Ribbon Cup's recovery efforts._

 _"I've had the pleasure of knowing these four before today's events and they really came through for the whole contest Circuit today," said Contesta. "I don't know what we would have done had Brodie gotten away with our Ribbon Cup."_

 _Each member of the group assisted in tracking the cup and its caper._

 _May Maple is the only member of the group who qualifies and is set to compete in the Grand Festival. She and her younger brother, Max, are the children of Hoenn Gym Leader, Norman Maple._

 _Harrison is a former gym leader from Kanto and a Pokémon breeder. Ketchum is a trainer currently registered for the Hoenn League, which is set to begin next month. The four were aboard the ship in route to Slateport City for the festival._

 _Boxer is a former member of the now-disbanded criminal organization, Team Magma. His current location is unknown, but Jenny advises that anyone who may encounter him should take caution._

 _"Brodie is a master of disguise and can hide in plain site," Jenny revealed. "If you have any tips that can help lead us to him, please call the authorities immediately."_

Thanks to the efforts of all parties involved, the Ribbon Cup is safe and secure and the Grand Festival will proceed as planned. The winning coordinator will receive the Ribbon Cup and the title, Top Coordinator.

The Festival begins on Friday and will last throughout the weekend. Tickets can be purchased online or at the gates of Slateport Arena.

The article ended there, and Drew closed out his Internet browser, staring blankly at his home screen for a few minutes.

"Well," he spoke to his Pokémon without facing them. "That was…something."

As if she some how knew he was done reading, Solidad chose that exact moment to send him another message.

 _"So excited to see you and May compete! Have fun!"_

He groaned and refused to reply. Their earlier conversation had been hard enough to get through; he wasn't about to let Solidad fluster him by talking about May.

Roselia and Masquerain sat behind him quietly and let him think for a few minutes. Neither of them moved or complained; they simply waited to see what Drew wanted to do.

Drew, meanwhile, was doing whatever he could to keep his mind off of May. Seeing her a few hours before had shaken him up enough, and now he had Solidad's advice to consider.

After a few moments of sitting still and breathing, Drew finally snapped himself into a working mindset. He had two days left to prepare himself for the Grand Festival, and he knew he couldn't waste any more time.

He stood up, stretched a bit and turned back to face his awaiting Pokémon.

"Roselia, you and I will train tomorrow," he explained, turning his attention up to his Masquerain after his starter had nodded. "Are you ready to do some more work on your appeal?"

Masquerain chirped happily, and Drew nodded.

"Right," he said. "Back to it."

They exited the dorms then, Drew all too aware that there were only 55 hours left to go.

He left that coffee on his desk, forgotten and untouched.


	13. Slateport City: The Hoenn Grand Festival

**Slateport City (The Grand Festival) –** In which Hoenn's biggest contest gets underway, and everyone has lessons to learn.

 **Author's notes:**  
\- I really can't apologize enough for this chapter taking as long as it has, and I know it has seriously been a long time; like, too long of a time. The end of the semester, finals, graduation and moving across the country for my big girl job has really sucked up most of my life. Starting this job has been incredible, because it's my dream job, but I am literally busy all the time. I'm working even when I'm not on the clock most days. And I promise I'm taking time when I can to write as much as possible and to update. So to those of you who have stuck with this story, thank you. It means so much to me. I'm _not_ giving up on this story. I promise.  
\- Based on the episodes, "Hi Ho Silver Wind!," "Deceit and Assist" and "Rhapsody in Drew."  
\- This chapter's coming in hot at 96 pages and 36,372 words on Microsoft word, yo.  
\- Lots of things in this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it! Please leave me some reviews, if you'd like (I'd definitely like it if you did).

* * *

Solidad's words stayed with him all night long.

Even after he'd woken up early and gotten his coffee, those words replayed in his mind. Even after he'd gotten off the phone with her and went out to train into the early hours of the morning, he could hear her advice.

 _"There's always someone better."  
_  
It was true; the more he thought about it, he realized it was so damn true. And he wanted nothing more than to be that someone better.

His entire Grand Festival strategy had been planned out for months, and in his practice sessions, he was executing everything down to a T. From the perfection of Roselia's petal dances and the shine of Masquerain's silver winds to the blinding speed of Flygon's steel wing, everything felt like it was falling into place.

And yet, at the same time, it didn't.

Despite with the sheer perfection his Pokémon team had been displaying in the months leading up to that point, especially the last few days before the festival's beginning, he was all too aware of the coordinators surrounding him. The ones he'd originally seen and wrote off he now analyzed with painful scrutiny.

He didn't dare train in front of them.

While a majority of the coordinators flocked to the grounds outside of the main arena and appeal stages to work on their moves, he stuck to the secluded beaches and dense, private forests surrounding Slateport's Grand Festival plaza. He didn't want any of his competition to see his plans for appeals. It was a system that had served him well throughout his coordinating career and he didn't dare change it. Not so close to the start of the Grand Festival.

Inspiration; he needed inspiration, and he figured that walking around the plaza could and would help. With only one day left before the start of the competition, the stage areas were now open to the coordinators who qualified. They were allowed to roam the grounds and get familiar with the contest settings. It was something he took full advantage of.

The sun blazed in the sky and the feelings of summer were all around as he strolled through the competition areas. Roselia walked faithfully by his side, basking in the heat and humidity. As a grass type, she loved the sunshine and felt energy surging through he body as she and Drew walked wordlessly around the stages. The fact that he would be performing there in just 48 short hours was mind-blowing. And mind-numbing.

The beginning rounds of the Grand Festival followed the traditional contest format: a single-Pokémon appeal. There were four appeals stages to house the massive 247 competing coordinators in the first appeal rounds. Each stage would see 61 performances, with four judges stationed at each one. The coordinators had received their preliminary round stage assignments upon their arrival and check in. (Drew would perform at stage two.) Then, out of everyone, only 64 of that grand total would advance to the appeals on the secondary round.

Round one would definitely be the hardest, not because the odds of making it through were so significantly slim; he had more faith in Roselia than he ever had before. No, it would be difficult because there was a kicker rule in the first appeal: coordinators could only use _one_ move in their appeal. One single move would decide the fate of 247 coordinators.

Drew thrived in appeals, because he excelled with combinations. And although he had advanced in appeals on solo moves before, he definitely preferred multiple attacks. That was the real reason he chose Roselia for the first round. If he could truly only rely on any one of his team, it was Roselia. She'd been with him since day one; it was only right she be with him in round one of their biggest contest yet.

The second round would move to the main stage, and it would be another appeals round. Coordinators would be required to perform with a different Pokémon than their first one. In that round, thankfully, the contestants could use as many moves at the wanted...as long as they could fit it in the three-minute time limit. Each person would have three minutes to state who they and their Pokémon were as coordinators, and prove why they deserved to move on even further in the competition. From that pool of 64, half would be eliminated. Only 32 would advance on to the battle rounds.

The second appeal would be Masquerain's time to shine. The butterfly Pokémon had more than proved his capabilities in multi-move appeals. He'd more than proved that in the R3 contest, and he knew Masquerain would excel in a three-minute performance, easily.

Drew considered the secondary appeal to be most important round in the entire Grand Festival. There were so many more factors in it that a coordinator had to consider. The first round appeal stages were small, and they didn't give any performer much room to work and/or move around in. That was why each contestant had to prove himself or herself to the judges with just one single move. The second round, however, moved to the main stage; tons of space, and tons of possibilities: the only requirement was to fill that three minutes.

Battle rounds in the Grand Festival were a little unique. Instead of single battles, the battles were fought with two Pokémon at once. The double battle format was new to him, but he had been practicing for it and his Pokémon had taken to it very quickly. Roselia and Flygon worked especially well together. And he knew exactly what battle he wanted the pair to participate in.

He basically had the entire Grand Festival figured out. Every round had been meticulously planned out. He knew what Pokémon he wanted to use and when, as well as the move sets they would use and how they should look. He'd never been more prepared for a contest in his life, and that was quite the statement.

His eyes analyzed the stage below him; the first stage he would perform on. It was the stage that would determine the future of his career as a coordinator, and the thought was a little daunting, even more so when he turned his head and looked back at the walls of the huge main arena.

So far, his walk to find inspiration wasn't going so well. If anything, it made him feel more underprepared. Solidad's words still in the back of his mind, he decided maybe going to watch the other coordinators practice would be better. If he saw what the others were planning, maybe he'd feel more prepared; maybe he'd feel better.

He looked down to Roselia at his side and they continued on their way.

There were tons of coordinators all over. It was one thing to know the numbers, but a bit overwhelming to actually see the 247 people he was going up against. He walked down to the beach briefly to check out the scene down there. He'd never seen a more diverse group of Pokémon down in the sand. Everything from Marills and Shedinjas to Trapinchs and Espeons; Drew swore he could see three regions worth of Pokémon on the beach alone. He didn't even want to start considering the ones training up on the solid ground.

And the ones he couldn't see.

Those were the ones he knew he would really have to watch out for. The coordinators who were just like him; the ones who trained in secret to remain unseen…those were the experienced ones. They were the wildcards. The ones he would undoubtedly have to face in the end.

He had to settle for seeing what he could; he made his way back towards the stages to see who was up there and what they were doing, slightly hoping there would be less people there.

It was worse. He couldn't count the number of coordinators he saw outside of the arena. The Pokémon were equally as innumerable. All of them appeared to be taking full advantage of the remaining time before the festival started. Some were practicing moves, some were grooming their Pokémon, some were feeding PokéBlock and etc.

The sheer numbers were crazy; he found himself anything but inspired. He actually found he was nervous, and that was no mindset to take into the Grand Festival. Step by step, he swam through the sea of coordinators that surrounded him, knowing full and well that he'd have to beat every single one of them to earn his ribbon cup. The thought was intense.

True, there were some common Pokémon who didn't seem to have a place among the elite. He'd seen more than a few Zigzagoons and a Taillow or two, but he didn't disregard any of them. Every person around him had earned five ribbons, just as he had. If they were here, it wasn't by mistake. Again, it was not helping him.

Through it all, Roselia clung to his side, assessing her potential opponents. She knew she had the power to take them all on, and that Drew had the knowledge and capability to guide her through any and every battle she might have against these other coordinators and their Pokémon. Nevertheless, she could tell her trainer was nervous for whatever reason.

She had known since they started walking together. It wasn't unusual for Drew to want to walk around and check out his competition before a contest, but his mannerisms suggested this wasn't a normal stroll. She watched the ways his eyes shifted from coordinator to coordinator. How his hands, though hidden in his pockets, were clenched into tight fists. She especially noticed how he was searching for something, but whatever it was, he clearly wasn't finding it.

They continued to walk in silence, and Roselia wondered idly if they were going to train after all of this. Drew definitely seemed out of his element, and it unnerved her a bit. He never seemed off like this, and she didn't expect him to be this tense coming up on what they'd worked towards for so long. He needed something, and she wanted to give him that something. Her eyes flocked to those around her, and she searched and searched.

All she could see was the swarm of her competition. Opponents she knew she could beat with ease surrounded them, and she knew that Drew was also aware of just how easy it would be to conquer those around them. Still, even if he was thinking it, it didn't seem to help him. Drew seemed lost in a way, and she didn't know how to pull him out of wherever he was.

Roselia was so lost in thought that she almost missed it when Drew stopped dead in front of her. She caught herself at the last split second and looked up to see him staring at someone in the crowd. When he laughed under his breath and looked away yet remained in place, she curiously scanned the crowd until she saw her; the one thing Roselia knew would get Drew's mind focused on the competition.

He'd always had some kind of special bond with that girl in the red bandana a few yards away from them. Roselia knew this, and she was happier than ever to see that May's presence alone renewed Drew's sense of confidence somewhat.

Without him even asking, Roselia quickly handed him a rose. He looked back down at her and nodded silently. His face was somewhat blank. It was a tamed reaction, but she could see the appreciation in his eyes. They both knew he'd need it.

Now all she had to do was wait for the two reluctant coordinators to interact.

* * *

He'd learned by that point to expect surprises from her, and yet she still never failed to surprise him.

The first thing he noticed when he saw her was the giant green mass of a Pokémon she was holding back and appeared to be correcting while she held an annoyed look on her face. He quickly realized it was a Munchlax; typically a Sinnoh-based Pokémon and definitely rare in the Hoenn region. How she found one, he had no idea; how she caught it was also an enigma.

The second thing he noticed was how his chest tightened up. How finally seeing her again made it a little bit harder to breathe. It was something he hadn't experienced since their time together on Mirage Island. And he had foolishly assumed that time would make the feelings ease up. Oh how wrong he was, as he looked at her mere yards away from him with her back turned, and already he could feel his cheeks warming up.

At one point, he looked away from her. He could practically feel his own heart beating with excitement, and he'd hate for her to turn and notice him staring at her. But he couldn't help it; it was all too much. They were both there, at the Grand Festival. They would both be competing against each other at the contest of all contests. Despite knowing there was more skilled coordinators, he felt a jolt of adrenaline knowing she was there competing against him.

She was his rival.

He closed his eyes for a moment and could imagine her across the battlefield, both of them poised in front of all of the thousands upon thousands fans in the main arena. His Roselia and Flygon out in front of him ready to go. And who knew which of her Pokémon she would send out? He hoped to face her Beautifly again…and maybe her Combuskin…

The possibilities she presented him were endless, and he didn't realize he was smiling to himself until he heard his own name called out to him.

"Drew, hey! So you are here after all!"

Her voice was as clear as it had ever been, or maybe it was just how hyperaware of her presence he had become.

He opened his eyes to see her running towards him and Roselia, arms waving and a bright smile on her face. Her group of friends and an older woman he recognized as her mother chose to stay back as she approached him, which he appreciated.

When she finally got to him, he kept his stance casual. Now that he was so aware of her, he was also completely focused on himself and how he looked to her. He wanted her to know he was ready; that there would be no mercy in this competition and that she better bring her A-game.

And he assumed she got the message, because her expression shifted into a more determined one. Her smile was still in place

"Bet you're surprised I'm here; you didn't think I'd make it," she boasted, with a clenched fist to add extra flare, he assumed.

Damn was she cute when she was fired up, but now wasn't the time for that. Now was the time for competition.

 _Contests first, feelings second._

"I have to admit I had my doubts…" he said slowly, just to test the waters.

But she didn't budge instantly like he expected her to. She stood strong and kept her eyes locked on his. Clearly she wanted to show him that she wasn't scared of him, and he mirrored her determination right back. He stayed relaxed with his hand in his pocket, his pointer finger tracing the thorn-less stem of the hidden rose. Timing; it was all about timing.

"You also have to admit even though you've never given me credit, for it, I'm every bit as good a trainer as you are."

She finished her bold statement with her hands on her hips and posed proudly looking away from him, as if she was somehow above him rather than "on his level" like she had claimed.

Drew fought with everything in himself not to snicker or snort at her comment, because that would be immature. Drew was many things, but immature was not one of them. Still, she clearly had no idea just how wrong she was. And just how badly Drew was going to prove her wrong throughout the contest, and would eventually defeat her by himself in their own battle.

But he held his thoughts to himself, because good things come to those who wait. After all, she was right in saying she was talented at least, because she had made it that far.

He settled for his signature hair flip, and he secured his fingers around the rose.

"Just saying it doesn't make it so," he informed her.

"What?" she demanded in utter disbelief. "I'm here, and if that's not enough pr–"

She stopped herself from finishing her sentence when he presented the rose to her. He hadn't intended to shove it in her face, but she deflated a bit in in shock when he held it out. For a moment he could see how perfectly matched the shade of the red was against her bandana. Roselia had probably done that intentionally, and he mentally rolled his eyes at his starter Pokémon.

The rose hung between them for a moment. Without any words to say, May stayed silent, and so Drew took over.

"I do respect you for your enthusiasm, and of course, congratulations on getting this far," he told her sincerely.

She seemed slightly stunned when he looked at her, like she was at a loss for what to do or say. It suddenly dawned on him how un-Drew-like he was being, and he quickly snapped himself back with a snide comment.

"But hey, enthusiasm can never take the place of real talent," he added.

That did it; something shifted in her eyes and she looked like she was torn between turning and walking away or punching him in the face.

"THAT'S IT," she shouted, swiping the rose from his hand – but not discarding it, he noted. "You'll be singing a different tune once I win that Ribbon Cup."

Her face relaxed back into a smug smile as she held the rose close. Whatever she was feeling, she was clearly ready to take him on. Gone was the friendly smile, replaced with one that showcased the wildfire in her eyes and the readiness to battle him in the Grand Festival.

And he loved it. He could feel his own fire burning hotter than it had previously been. None of the coordinators surrounding them mattered. He only cared about beating this girl and her Pokémon, and hearing her admit she was impressed by his skill and that he was the best.

May was someone he was beginning to consider a good friend, but an even greater rival.

He was just about to respond when someone else started shouting her name.

"May is that you?!"

Both coordinators turned back to see a purple-haired boy dressed in all green shouting and waving as he ran towards them through the crowd. Drew almost instantly recognized him as Solidad's friend, who had tried to cheat his way around beating May in a contest earlier in the season and whose name Drew couldn't remember.

He bit his tongue and waited to see what would happen.

May squeaked a bit beside him as the boy approached, and Drew took a spare second to glance at her out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to have mixed feelings about seeing him, and none of them were good. Drew pursed his lips for a moment, because the feeling was mutual, and he had never even personally met this other kid before.

The boy in question finally stopped before the two of them, a bit out of breath and laughing in a way that was painfully obviously forced.

"I thought I'd never catch up to you!" he said overly joyed. "How are ya?"

Drew was already annoyed, and judging from her expression. May clearly didn't want him there, either. But he held his tongue and waited to see what she would say.

"Oh, uh, fine–just fine!" she stuttered awkwardly. "Uh–"

"Glad to hear it!" he stood up straight and cut her off instantly, much more to Drew's annoyance. "I'm great; made the Grand Festival and I couldn't be happier…except…"

The boy then paused for a moment and stuck himself right in May's face, forcing Drew to take a step back. Drew bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying anything, but he definitely didn't like this kid, and watching him put himself in such close proximity to the girl he liked definitely didn't help.

If Drew had been annoyed when that boy first walked up, he was beyond annoyed now, but he still didn't say anything. Surely May could see how fake this guy was being, especially when he continued speaking with obviously fake tears. It became harder to withhold speaking when that kid grabbed May's hands, though…

"Oh, May!" the Cacturn-clad boy whined. "I feel just terrible! I realize that it's a lot to expect you to forgive me; what I did was really, really not nice. But I have to at least try, don't I? I apologize, May…"

He took a small step back then, hands clasped together like he was praying for salvation. It was the fakest, corniest thing Drew had seen in a long time, and he couldn't help but let his mouth hang open in shock that this kid could even think that this terrible apology would work on anyone.

But then again, it wasn't being said to just anyone; it was being said to _May_.

May, the girl he was constantly learning new things about. And one side-glance over to her told Drew exactly what he feared.

 _May has way too big a heart._

She seemed a bit torn, but it was obvious she was leaning towards going along with it. She seemed taken back by his crazy desperate rant, but she also seemed to feel sorry for him. But when she stayed quiet, he pressed her again, and harder.

"Will you ever forgive me?!" he cried, false tears streaming down his face.

"Uh, yeah, whatever you say," May awkwardly waved her hand to dismiss his tears. "Don't even worry about it."

Drew was so taken aback by May forgiving this boy that he couldn't speak. He had a thousand things he wanted to say in that moment, and probably about 950 of them dealt with asking May if she was serious or if she was insane. The other 50 were expletives he wanted to say to Harley.

It was almost painful how much this boy _didn't_ deserve for her to say what he had done was okay, and Drew was extremely suspicious of what his intentions were seeing how pathetic and overdramatic his whole display of an apology had been.

Still, May did have a habit of surprising Drew, and he was diligently silent watching the whole exchange, secretly praying she was going to set this kid straight.

"FOR REAL?!" Harley exploded, as if he himself couldn't believe May had given him her blessing either. "You've totally forgiven me?!"

"Uh, yeah, why not–" May tried before the boy cut her off and grabbed her hands again, much to Drew's disdain.

"Oh, thank you so much, May!" he exclaimed. "I don't think I could be happier!"

Drew took the opportunity to see how May's friends in the background were reacting. Her mother seemed at ease while the three boys looked less than pleased with the exchange. Drew knew he was on the same wavelength as them, and it was nice to know he wasn't alone in his suspicion. But he turned his attention back to the scene before him…exactly at the worst time.

"Oh wow, just look at that…" his eyes fixated on the rose in May's hands, and Drew felt as though a lump formed in his throat. "May, that's such a beautiful red rose you have there!"

He has already been uncomfortable watching the entire exchange so far; couldn't he and Roselia make a quiet escape and not have to deal with the potentially awkward situation about to unfold?

The boy turned his head to face Drew for the first time since he'd walked up to the two of them, and Drew did his absolute best to remain still.

"Could it be from this young man here?" he questioned her.

Over the years, Drew had seen a lot of strange looks directed at him. When he'd beaten particularly competitive opponents in some contests, he'd gotten some nasty looks. There were times when older women looked at him in a sickening way. Some people had seemed to analyze him with so much intensity and judgment, he'd thought he'd gotten used to just about every gaze possible on the planet.

No stare he had ever encountered compared to the way the boy's eyes looked all over him, and the sickening smile plastered all on his lips. He looked evil, and Drew was too shocked (and maybe even spooked) to react in any way other than to blankly stare back and hope this kid would turn away again.

One thing was for certain in the moment their eyes connected, though: Drew did not trust this boy. Not at all.

"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce you!" May jumped in, seeming a little more relaxed now that the boy's focus wasn't directed completely at her. "Drew, this is another trainer, Harley."

 _Oh, right. Harley._

The second she said his name, Drew saw something flash in Harley's eyes, but he buried it as quickly as it came, showing only that disgustingly sweet and grossly fake smile. Harley began to smile brighter as he stepped closer to him. At a few feet away, Drew was already more than uncomfortable with Harley's presence. The closer he got, the worse Drew felt.

"Do you mean to tell me this _the_ Drew everyone is talking about?!" Harley questioned aloud, and Drew recognized what that flash of emotion had been. "You're the one all the other trainers are gunning for; _the one to beat_."

While it had been obvious to Drew from the moment he walked up that Harley had something against May, now he clearly had something against Drew, too. And of course Drew knew everyone at the Grand Festival was out to get him. He was one of the most known coordinators in all of Hoenn's Contest Circuit. But the way Harley had said it; it had been so condescending. Like he was trying to scare him. It wasn't going to work, though. Drew mentally promised himself that he would not let Harley get under his skin or change up his game.

"I had no idea you had such powerful friends, May," Harley finally turned away from Drew, who exhaled softly and glared slightly at him.

"Oh, we're not really friends, Harley," May corrected him. "Most of the time, Drew just likes to make fun of me."

Growing up, Drew Hayden had _never_ been in any sort of altercation. He'd never been seriously injured or never had been in any sort of physical fight with anyone. No, Drew had never known what it felt like to get punched in the face…but he imagined it probably hurt less than hearing the words May had just so casually said out loud to Harley.

And he was right there when she said them. Drew was literally inches away from where May was standing, and May had completely cut him down without even realizing it. She said those words so easily, like she had completely accepted them and that they – beyond a shadow of doubt – were the truth.

Drew stood there and looked at her, but she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at Harley. Her face was at ease and her eyes were relaxed, showing absolutely no signs of worry with the admission she just made. She seemed to be completely unaware of just how deep her words had hit him and he wasn't sure whether or not it was showing on his face.

And if his face was as bad as he felt, he prayed like hell she wouldn't look over to him.

"Oh, that can't be true or he wouldn't have given you a rose!" Harley actually defended Drew, and whether it was intentional or not, Drew didn't know.

Drew, meanwhile, was still completely frozen with his eyes fixated on her face, desperately searching for any sign of doubt that she didn't actually believe what she had said.

Did she truly believe _they_ were nothing? Did she honestly think that all she was to him was a target for sarcastic comments and someone he saw as an annoyance at contests? To be fair, he knew they hadn't always had 100 percent pleasant interactions in the early days of their acquaintance…but hadn't things changed between them?

His mind flashed back to _the day_ , when she had fought so incredibly hard to save his life and to wake him up. The look in her eyes when he first opened his was one of pure elation; even though they had been stranded on a dangerous island with little chance of surviving on their own, he recognized that the second he had woken up, she seemed to be radiating with relief, like there were no other problems in the world and the only thing that mattered to her was that he was okay.

And then the situation had shifted, when Team Rocket had taken her. Did she not see how insanely desperate he was to get her back and to get her back safely? And how he, too, felt the exact same way she had when he'd woken up when he finally got her back?

Or even beyond all of that; had she not ever once considered what those roses meant? He had never given roses to any other person he'd ever encountered. She was the one and only. And even now, as she held one tightly to her chest as Harley examined it with an odd sense of interest, did she seriously think she meant absolutely nothing to him?

Drew felt sick; he felt utterly numb and completely lost. All he could do was stand there and stare at the girl who meant so much more to him than he himself could explain or understand, and she apparently thought she meant nothing.

"And come to think of it, there's something romantic going on here!" Harley gasped, though Drew barely heard him.

Drew was almost offended when he saw the blush creep up on her face with Harley's words. She frantically complained and waved off Harley's accusations, and Drew felt all the more numb. He suddenly wanted to leave, but couldn't force his feet to move.

Harley, meanwhile, laughed in response, and pulled a camera from the inside of his pocket. He turned back to face Drew, who could barely force himself to turn away from May to address him.

"I'm right!" Harley giggled, mostly to himself. "I think I should document this moment, okay?"

If there was one thing Drew hated more than anything and worked extra hard to avoid his entire contest career, it was pictures. He avoided photographers like people avoided angry Beedrill in a forest; he did anything and everything he could to stay away from them. Now, in that moment, with Harley sticking a camera in his face, all he could do was blankly stare back as the flash burst and the shutter snapped.

"Beautiful!" Harley stated, then turned away from both of them. "Bye, May. See ya later."

With that awkward exchange, Harley walked away easily like he hadn't confused the hell out of May by doing so, or, more significantly, like he hadn't just started World War III inside of Drew's mind.

Suddenly it was just the two of them standing next to each other, and the air felt heavy and awkward to him. Neither of them said anything. May watched Harley walk away and Drew watched May out of the corner of his eyes. When it became clear she wasn't going to turn to face him or speak to him again, he finally found his legs and remembered how to walk.

With his fists balled, he turned on his heel.

"Let's go, Roselia…" Drew muttered, turning and not even bothering to address her in anyway as he left.

His starter Pokémon did not hesitate to follow beside him, though one quick glance at her face told him she was just as confused about the whole exchange as he as been.

Still, his walk did benefit him, and he had found the inspiration he was searching for. He felt more determined than ever to win the Grand Festival, because being reminded that everyone around him was going after him fueled him.

Seeing May had also helped him in some ways, despite how their interaction had somewhat turned in to a train wreck. He still wanted to beat May above all else, but now he had someone else to watch out for.

Harley may not have been aware, but he was on Drew's bad list; a place not many people ended up and definitely a place no one ever wanted to be.

Drew heard May call out his name as he walked away.

He didn't turn back.

Contests first, feelings second, after all.

* * *

At the first sign that Roselia and Masquerain were getting tired, Drew knew it was time for a break.

The three had been training for a solid three hours; Drew calling out combination after combination. He wanted to use Roselia in the beginning round, because if he was only given one move, he knew she wouldn't let him down. And he and Masquerain had come up with the perfect display for the secondary appeals. Flygon he didn't need to expose nor train with; he wouldn't be performing any appeals. Flygon would be his powerhouse for battling only.

"Roselia, I want this one to be your best one yet," Drew called out to her from a few yards away. "Let me see your strongest petal dance."

And she delivered; petals and strong scents dominated the small, secluded field they'd been working in. Drew had to raise his arm to block his face from getting spammed with petals. He knew she was stronger than ever. The same went for his Masquerain, who had more than excelled all morning with their preplanned routine.

But when Drew lowered his arms to praise his starter, he noticed her panting heavily and leaning forward to support herself on her hands a bit. His eyes looked up to find his Masquerain fluttering lower than usual as well. Sure signs that his Pokémon were wiped after three straight hours of putting all their energy into the attacks they were practicing.

Drew smiled proudly at the two of them. He was more than satisfied with the effort they were showing and humbled that they wanted to give him this win as much as he wanted it.

"Alright, guys, great job," he spoke. "What do you both say we head back for some lunch and call it a day?"

To his surprise, both Pokémon started to refuse the offer. They wanted to keep working, and wanted him to know they weren't going to quit. It meant so much to him to know his Pokémon loved him as much as he loved them.

"We have the rest of the day after you guys eat and recharge a bit to train before the start of the Grand Festival tomorrow," he told them. "Besides, there's no one here that can out do what I've seen the two of you do today. You've both earned some extra Pokéblock; let's head back and get some."

After his offer for treats, both Roselia and Masquerain happily complied and returned to their Pokéballs. Drew secured them inside of his pocket next to his ribbon case and started on his way back.

It wasn't a terribly long walk back to the main arena and resort areas, but the summer season had definitely arrived in Slateport City. Hoenn was a region famously known for its blistering heat, and the summer could often be merciless. Originally hoping to grab some coffee, it didn't take long for the walk in the humidity to change his mind. Drew made a mental note to grab a bottle of water for himself out of the first vending machine he saw, even though he was a huge believer in only drinking certain brands of bottled beverages.

A lot of people said there wasn't a difference in the taste of different bottled waters. Drew believed there absolutely was.

Within minutes, Drew was walking past dozens of coordinators, all training for the start of the Festival in less than 24 hours. He watched a few as he walked by, though noticed how many had cleared out since that morning. Most of them had no doubt gone to see May's father, Norman, because according to one or two posters he'd read and one or two conversations he'd heard, the famed gym leader was there in Slateport offering Pokémon advice or whatever. Drew didn't need it, so he didn't bother, but he did find it strange that Norman wouldn't be with May as she trained for the festival. Her younger brother and mother had been with her.

He tried to block May out of his thoughts as he trained, and for the most part, he had done a pretty good job. His appeal rounds had nothing to do with her, so it made it easier to focus on how his Pokémon looked rather than think of the girl who had unknowingly tore him up that morning. And he didn't understand why what she had said hurt him so badly.

Not that he had any prior experience, but this was just a crush, right? It was just a little crush that would eventually fade away after a while or after he got used to seeing her, right? It had to be. He was sure that was how it was going to go after he'd initially realized he harbored some attraction to her. And when he wasn't near her, it was easy…well, easier not to think about her.

But now, every time he saw her, his stomach did odd little flips and his heart switched to a weird rhythm and apparently she had the power to break him down with little to no effort. Having feelings for someone: it was the strangest thing he'd ever encountered.

Just how deep did those feelings go, exactly, if they hadn't gotten any weaker after these few weeks?

He didn't have time to ponder it before her Beautifly caught his attention. He stopped walking when he noticed the shower of sparkles falling around him and looked up to discover what was undoubtedly May's Pokémon soaring through the sky and raining glitter all around them without even launching an attack. Yep, Beautifly was a Pokémon definitely made for contests; he'd thought it to himself so many times after meeting her and he'd never get over the sheer shine of that Pokémon.

When she called out for silver wind, and Drew watched eagerly to see her signature attack, the moment was ruined when Harley's voice pierced the air around them. Drew watched in disgust as he ran over to her and her friends and praised

"Honestly, May, I've never seen such a wonderful command of silver wind before!" Harley praised her.

 _That's because you've never seen us use the attack together_.

"Your talent for bringing out beauty in your Pokémon is beyond belief," he added.

Harley wasn't wrong. Drew himself had acknowledged a few times that May might not have been the best coordinator (though she had significantly improved over the season and was continuing to do so day by day), and she had a special talent for raising her Pokémon well. She loved and cared for her partners with everything she had, and it showed in the way they performed. He had always admired that about her, since day one.

Hearing someone else say it to her, especially when that other someone was Harley, who was trying way too hard to sound convincing, didn't bode well with Drew.

What also didn't bode well with Drew was the way she perked up the second he said it to her; it was like she needed the reassurance, like she wasn't confident in herself.

Drew watched the two for a few moments before he couldn't take anymore and continued walking.

"You should use that silver wind all the way through the preliminaries and the competition match!" he heard Harley encourage. "Just think how cool it would look to only need that single attack!"

The words stopped Drew right in his tracks again. Not only was it laughable how bad of advice it was, but the fact that Harley thought she would believe that? May was better than that, and she knew better, too.

"I guess…but then, what happens if you and I have to compete and you already know exactly what attack I'm gonna use?" May asked slowly.

… _Oh_.

That was what she was worried about in that advice? Did she actually think using one sole attack through _the contest of all contests_ would be enough? She was joking, right? She had to be joking. She was going to turn around and throw that in his face, right…?

"Oh dear!" Harley shot back in a tone that made Drew want to puke. "I had hoped you knew me better than that! I'd never take advantage of you! After what I did to you before, I just wanna help you win. I don't care about myself…"

"But you can't do that!" May suddenly exclaimed. "You earned those five ribbons to get here and you should be trying for victory!"

Drew watched the two get closer together, and something deep inside him burned. He ignored it.

Well, he did his best to ignore it.

"Yeah, I suppose," Harley barely said, looking down and pathetic.

"And I can tell ya something else," she said, taking Harley's hands.

 _No._

"Right up until this minute, I still thought you were probably up to no good, Harley."

 _May, stop._

"But now I can see that I was wrong."

 _He's lying; c'mon, this is fake._

"Let's both make this a competition to remember!"

 _That's supposed to be you and me_.

"That means you'll look at me as an equal and an opponent worth battling against?!" Harley's voice raised in volume once again.

"Yes, of course!" May nodded.

"Oh, thank you, May!" Harley replied, adding more of his fake tears.

The whole thing was blowing Drew's mind. How could May not see that this guy was not sincere at all? Why didn't her friends step in? What was happening?

"And I'm gonna take your advice and go all the way through the competition with Beautifly's silver wind as my only attack!" she confirmed the words Drew feared most. "Just think how impressed the judges will be with something like that."

Drew briefly looked down to the ground in disbelief. His brain was actually struggling while processing the absurdity of the moment.

He tried not to moan out loud, and succeeded for the most part, but he couldn't stop the frustrated sigh that escaped his lips. May was a coordinator who won five ribbons and qualified for the top contest of the Hoenn region, and yet here she was, committing herself to a plan he would expect to see a rookie try at their first contest. It was embarrassing, and if she was foolish enough to believe that would work here…

Well, for one, she actually couldn't do it, because she would be required to switch Pokémon if she made it through the first round. Secondary appeals had to feature a different member of a coordinator's party, and none of her other Pokémon knew silver wind as far as he knew.

But still, the fact that she was so willing to try this out, maybe she deserved the failure she (and Harley) were setting herself up for…

But he looked over to her, and saw a genuine confidence in her eyes. It was a self-assurance that he never had truly seen any of the times he had spoken to her at contests. Because he had scorned her a lot in the past for her inexperience, and maybe it did make sense for her to assume that he thought so little of her, even when it was so far from the truth.

She didn't deserve to fail because he had made her feel insignificant. Maybe that wasn't what this was about, and it definitely wasn't entirely him, but Drew suddenly felt the need to start making up for all the times he didn't treat her like competition, but more like someone who had no place in the coordinating world.

He looked up.

"Bad idea," he called out to her.

She looked over to him, surprised to see he was even there at all.

"It's hard enough getting through the preliminaries and into the finals without limiting yourself to only one attack," he spoke slowly, looking back and forth between her and Harley. "Flexibility and strategy are more important than just showing off one move."

For a split second, he focused on her eyes, and they were wide open and locked on his. And somewhere deep in them, he swore he could see that she believed his words; that she knew he was telling the truth. Part of him hoped she would hear him and realize that he was trying to help her, and that he was trying to be her friend and a fair opponent. Trying to be a good rival. That he respected her as a fellow coordinator, and that he wanted to see her succeed in this Grand Festival that she rightfully got to on her own.

More than anything, he wanted her to believe in him, and in herself.

For that one split second, she seemed like she understood, and her lips parted as if she was going to speak. He leaned forward ever so slightly and waited.

But whatever she was going to say was cut off by the shrill cry of Harley and his nonsense. May instantly wheeled back to face Harley, and Drew turned to glare at him as well.

"You're just trying to confuse her because you're jealous!" he combatted. "Don't listen to any of his nonsense, May. He doesn't even know what he's talking about."

Drew couldn't help but roll his eyes. He was one of the most famous coordinators in all of Hoenn…and he wasn't even 13 years old yet. Harley was clearly around Solidad's age, and the only reason Drew even knew he existed was because Solidad knew him, and Solidad knew _everyone_. So really, even that wasn't much of an accomplishment.

But in this case, Drew's reputation hurt him a bit more than helped him, because he had thrown it in May's face one too many times before.

"In fact, let me take you to a professional," Harley insisted. "Someone who can give you much better Pokémon advice than Drew, anyway."

Harley forcefully grabbed May's arm, and she seemed a bit startled. Drew took a small step forward and watched carefully. His eyes were staring straight into Harley's, and Drew hoped he could see the message he was mentally screaming.

 _Don't mess with me, Harley, and don't mess with her._

Drew didn't know how threatening of a person he could be, but Harley seemed to understand. He let go of May almost instantly, and Drew took a step back. He gave him one last warning stare before turning his attention back to May, who was now completely focused on a poster.

She seemed shocked to discover her father was there in Slateport. Even stranger, her brother and her mother were equally as confused.

Something was up, and May and her group of friends were quickly on their way to figure out what was going on. When it was clear Harley was tagging along with them, Drew opted out.

"You're not coming?" Brock stopped, turned back and asked him.

"I think I need to keep some distance," Drew said.

"I agree with that," Brock said. "And don't worry; I'm watching him, too."

Drew nodded back.

* * *

The whole Norman-appearance-special-Pokémon-training-offer turned out to be Team Rocket again.

Drew hadn't planned on getting involved at all. Only after Brock had taken off to catch up with his friends did Drew change course and walk to see what was truly going on. Once he got there, he had stayed on the sidelines for the majority of the fiasco.

Drew supposed he should have expected to see them turn up at some point. After all, they followed May and her friends wherever they went. It also was no surprise to watch May and her friend, Ash defeat them so easily and save the day.

After the figurative and literal dust had settled, Drew watched with gritted teeth as Harley once again overplayed the supportive friend role and tried once again to convince May using only her silver wind was the absolute best way to go into the contest. Drew hoped his words would have gotten to her after she'd had some time to think about them, but with dozens of other trainers cheering her on for saving the day, Harley's pitch seemed more attractive.

All he could do was watch with clenched fists as she beamed to her group that she was going to stick with silver wind and silver wind alone.

Brock was the only one to notice he was there.

The two shared a look before Drew turned to walk away.

* * *

It was nearing midnight when Drew's head finally his the pillow in his dorm room that night.

He and Roselia had been training long and hard for hours. When he said they should stop for the night, she insisted they keep practicing. She knew the final hours before the festival were critical and she didn't dare waste a single second of her or Drew's final prep time.

So long after the sun had gone down and Drew had convinced her she was unstoppable and now the best thing they could do was rest up, she finally relented and they returned to their room.

Roselia had been ecstatic and hyper the whole walk back, ready to compete, but fell asleep quite quickly, as Drew expected her to do so. With all the hard work she had put in over the last few days and especially in the last few hours, it made sense to him that she would be out. She slept beside Drew while Masquerain took the foot of the bed. Drew had cleared one corner of the room and fixed up a huge blanket nest for Flygon. After all, the contest committee had made sure to construct rooms big enough for coordinators and their teams to rest in. He was sure to keep the window shades closed so no one would see his new Pokémon early, because they would see him in two days when the battle rounds began.

Although all his Pokémon resting up for their first big day, and Drew feeling just as exhausted, sleep managed to avoid him.

He lied in the bed, staring up at the ceiling and watched the fan blades as they slowly spun around. His mind was racing.

He thought of everything from what the first round would be like tomorrow to what it would feel like holding the Ribbon cup on Sunday. And he was more than ready to know that feeling. He knew that he and his team were going into the toughest competition they'd ever faced in their lives, and there would no doubt be struggles, but he had to do this. He couldn't let his Pokémon down; they'd worked too hard to bring him there.

He also thought of Solidad. How she was doing over in Johto and if she would be watching the Grand Festival from where she was. Knowing her, she was probably making friends with everyone around her, and impressing the hell out of the higher ups in the Wallace Cup Committee with her poise and grace. It wasn't hard to like Solidad, and Drew was convinced no one on earth hated her.

Her advice stayed in the back of his mind, though, and he wondered who there might be better than him. He'd seen a decent amount of coordinators throughout the week and he knew the best ones had probably been training in secret like he had been. Or what if one of the ones he saw out in the open was a wildcard? Hiding in plain sight and ready to take the Ribbon Cup for themself?

A week ago, Drew walked into Slateport City ready to dominate. Now, mere hours before the start of the competition, he still wanted the win just as badly, but was aware that he wouldn't just walk in and take it. He had to treat everyone like a threat, because they were all out to get him, too. But losing was not an option. Not after he'd come this far and worked this hard.

Eventually, May creeped her way into his thoughts as she so often did. Unfortunately for him, so did Harley.

Drew had not come to the Grand Festival to babysit, but with Harley's unwelcomed arrival, it seemed he was going to have to. What Harley's specific plan was, Drew didn't know, but he did know Harley wanted May to lose, and would play on her insecurities as a coordinator to make that happen.

Harley was ruthless, and May for some reason couldn't see that. Drew felt as though it was his job to help her realize it.

No matter what that meant, and it could have meant a lot of things.

Harley was clearly a crafty individual and Drew would have to tread carefully. Somehow he'd need to expose Harley for the creep that he truly was. But Harley was a good actor, and Drew didn't have the patience to put up with him.

The Grand Festival was something Drew had dreamed of for a long time, and _no one_ was going to ruin it for him.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Slateport City, where the Grand Festival is about to begin!" Vivian announced from the main arena.

The video and audio systems were rigged so that each of the five individual first-round appeal stages would be fed from the main stage. Vivian was hosting the biggest contest in the biggest way.

Drew watched from his assigned stage – number three – as Vivian introduced the Hoenn Grand Festival to the audience and to the world.

"Excitement is in the air as some of the world's most talented coordinators are about to give it their all in the quest for their dreams! To get here, each of these high level trainers has had to win five ribbons in competitions all over the land, and now they stand on the appeal stage awaiting the preliminary round.

"Striking that perfect balance between power and display is the key to victory here. Pokémon entrances, attack executions and every aspect right up to the big finish must be done with maximum grace and power. Coordinators will also be judged on how smoothly they interact with their Pokémon.

"Out of the starting pool of 247 contestants, only the best 64 coordinators will make it through to the main competition round on the arena's center stage. The only thing we know for certain is that for some, there'll be triumph, and for some, there'll only be heartbreak."

Drew watched the opening ceremony from the backstage area for stage three, which he noted on the roster also hosted Harley and May. His performance was set for sport number seven, which was six spaces ahead of Harley and 19 ahead of May. Though he didn't see either of them. He assumed they opted to watch the first few from the stands.

The crowd went absolutely insane when she finished speaking, and not even Vivian's hand gestures could get them to stop cheering. It wasn't until the contest officials placed a giant, "quiet please" sign on the main monitors that the audience settled down just enough so Vivian's voice could be heard on the speakers again.

"I know you're all as excited as I am, so as my sister would say, let's get busy and turn out attention to our first find coordinators on the five appeal stages!" she shouted into her microphone. "On stage one, it's Keesha! Stage two, Thomas! Stage three, Taylor! And finally, over on stage four, Aaron!"

Drew watched from his bench as the coordinator named Taylor made her way out through the doors and towards their stage.

Then he looked down to Roselia's Pokéball in his hands.

"Alright, let's do this."

* * *

It was the same, but it was different.

He made his way out to the center of his assigned appeal stage and listened as the crowd went ballistic over his presence, as they so always did. And for a moment, all his troubles were forgotten.

Drew belonged on a stage; he and his Pokémon were made to compete in contests. Hearing the hundreds upon hundreds of people screaming his name was natural. Contests and competing were two of the most important parts of his life and himself.

Only his love for his Pokémon outweighed his love of coordinating. Luckily for him, they went hand in hand.

It was a textbook perfect day in Slateport City's Grand Festival Plaza. Not a single cloud polluted the pure blue sky. The heat was intense, but such was just the common occurrence for Hoenn. Summer's were often blazing.

All in all, it was the absolute perfect combination of weather conditions for his starter. Roselia's Pokéball felt as though it weighed a ton in his hand as he stood in anticipation in front of the screaming contest fans.

Any other coordinator would have released their Pokémon while the crowd was still cheering, but not Drew. He watched the crowd as they continued their deafening chants.

"Drew, Drew, Drew, Drew!"

He soaked it in; he absorbed their praise and gave them nothing back other than a casual stance. One hand was in his pocket, the other dangling down with a secure grip on Roselia's Pokéball. At any moment, he could have summoned her and gone on with his appeal and secured his place in the second round, but he stood poised and waited. He knew the longer he waited, the more hyped they'd be, ever wondering what the great Drew Hayden had in store for them.

And in all actuality, it was a simple routine; after all, in this first round, coordinators were only granted one move to showcase the judges, the audience and the watching world who they were as competitors. One sole move to define who they were.

Originally, he'd considered going with solar beam, and a part of him almost wished he'd committed to it with the weather conditions as perfect as they were in the outside arena. But solar beam was not who he and Roselia were. No, they had a signature move; one that he relied on so many times throughout his coordinator career. It felt as though any other move here, on this stage they'd worked for two long years to perform on, wouldn't be morally right.

He'd noticed May and her group in the front row the second he'd walked out to the center stage, but didn't acknowledge her in any way. He had closed his eyes the second he'd planted his feet and simply waited. There was no official indication on when to start, but he knew he would feel when the time was right in his soul.

Something inside of him told him to open his eyes; he did so, slowly, and instantly found himself staring straight at May. She was smiling eagerly, clapping along with the rest of the crowd. Her eyes told him she was excited to see what he would do.

Despite his resolve to wait, he gracefully tossed her Pokéball into the air.

"Roselia, it's time!" he called out while the streak of white manifested into his starter.

She drifted gently down, landed in front of him and posed in the exact way they'd been practicing for a long time in anticipation of that exact moment. She held her long rose arms out to her sides, her head slightly bowed and smiling. And for a splint second, Drew took the time to admire his best friend and longest partner.

Roselia had never been more beautiful. Shining sparkles covered her skin and glistened in the hard sunlight, all thanks to the Pokéblock Drew was able to concoct from some of the berries Solidad had given him. Her roses were never more vibrantly colored, and her stand was strong and elegant. For a single moment, she was the most amazing Pokémon in existence, and the world was cheering for her.

The two of them had a long time tradition in their contests together. When the other was ready to begin, they would share a look to each other. Drew used those few precious moments to convey to her that he was proud of her no matter what, and she in return would show him that she believed in him. It was a private conversation; one they had with their eyes in those fleeting looks. Now, in that moment, there was no need for Roselia to turn around and face her trainer, nor did Drew feel the need for her to do so, either. Their connection was unbreakable, and their souls were never more connected than in that moment.

That moment that took two years of dedication, hard work and love to get to; it was there.

It was _finally_ there.

"Roselia, use petal dance!" he shouted.

The screaming from the auidence only increased as Roselia began to spin, firing off her (and essentially Drew's) most famous attack. If there was one move they were known for more famously than any other, it was petal dance. It was their fail-safe. It was their very essence. And it never failed to showcase just how meant for contests the pair was.

Roselia spun smoothly through the air, forming a loose spiral with her signature pink petals as they rained across the entire stage. The sweet fragrance and endless sparkles showered the area, and the guest judges for stage three were utterly entranced. Of course they'd always heard of Drew Hayden and his famous petal dance, but experiencing it in person enraptured them.

Petal dance had never failed him before, and now more than ever, Drew could see it was the perfect start on his road to the ribbon cup.

Roselia slowly lowered herself back to the ground, still keeping her fluent, spinning motion until her feet touched back down on the ground. Her petal dance continued even after she had halted the move, and both her and Drew bowed together in sync to end their single-attack appeal.

It was an appeal he'd used over and over again, and yet Roselia never failed to outdo herself each and every time. Drew couldn't have been happier with the performance. He felt especially overjoyed when he peaked over to May, to see the amazement in her eyes as she watched the petals finally start to slow.

And there she sat, so beautiful and engrossed and full of wonder.

His heart jumped a little in his chest and he had to use every ounce of effort to stay still in front of the crowd.

The buzzing sound of the judges having calculated their scores was the only thing in the universe that could have forced his eyes off of her. He and Roselia both turned to face the giant screen behind them.

When the 95 flashed on the screen, Drew expected to feel a little deflated. Were it a regular contest, his performance probably would have earned at least a 98, but he couldn't complain. This was the Grand Festival and he had earned the highest score he'd seen come from any stage so far. That in itself was a great feeling.

Roselia took one last bow and returned to her Pokéball, and Drew exited the stage. The cheers didn't seem to die down at all.

* * *

He thought about going out and watching performances from the stands, but the back stage area offered the advantage of seeing all four stages at once. He could monitor every performance and that seemed like a better tradeoff in his mind. Seeing acts in person was always better, but this was smarter.

May still hadn't appeared backstage, but it didn't surprise him. She seemed like the type of person to stick with family when she could, and no doubt having her mother there was something she appreciated. Especially after the whole sham with Team Rocket pretending to be her father thing…

Harley's presence in the backstage area was painfully obvious to him, though, even though they were on opposite sides of the room all together. Harley had opted to take a seat on one of the front benches, closest to the screens and snickering at the weaker scores of the day.

Drew hadn't interacted with Harley since their initial meeting, and he planned to keep it that way. Knowing the type of person Harley was, he'd probably convinced May it was better to watch some of the appeals out there rather than see them all. Just another way to manipulate her…

So Drew ignored him and focused on the contest. That's why he was there, anyway.

There were so many appeals going on and so many scores to keep up with that it felt like way too much to keep track of at times. A few acts were subpar at best, which was disappointing but simultaneously reassuring as well. The average score seemed to stick around 78, if he'd done his math correctly.

He watched all the screens intently, looking for anyone he either knew or even simply recognized. A few faces seemed somewhat familiar from the contest season, but a majority of them were strangers, capable of anything. He studied all of them.

Eventually, it was Harley's turn, and Drew bit his tongue a little when Harley's face lit up the screen in the middle.

"C'mon, now, Cacturn and do it for Harley!"

He released his Cacturn and the two stood for only a split second before Harley called for his attack.

The bullet seed was one of the fastest Drew had ever seen. The shots struck the ground at such an incredible pace that it stunned everyone watching. And the rate at which the seeds glowed while they shot out was pretty vivid as well. As much as Drew disliked Harley, he couldn't deny he was a worthy opponent.

Cacturn finished its appeal in a daunting pose, and Harley praised his Pokémon loudly instead of just gracefully waiting for his results like most coordinators did. Drew rolled his eyes at the spectacle, but agreed with the 84 he received as a score.

Cheating or not, Drew would have to watch out for him in the battle rounds.

* * *

Not long after Harley's performance, May finally showed up.

She wandered backstage looking a little lost after he had received his score. Drew realized she was looking for him, and eventually stood by the door waiting.

After a few minutes of standing and waving to the audience, Harley finally made his way back, and May greeted him in the entrance way.

"You know what to do, May," he prompted her, raising his hand for a high five. "That silver wind of yours."

Drew watched with a twinge of bitterness as May responded, slapping his hand and affirming him.

His only comfort in that moment was the fact that May's silver wind was pretty fantastic, and Harley clearly didn't realize that.

* * *

He'd stepped into the next room to get coffee, not that the free coffee the coordinators were offered was very good. He just really wanted some coffee.

"And coming to the stage now: May from Petalburg City!"

From the other room, he looked through the doorway back towards the screens when he heard Vivian's announcement.

Up until that point, Drew's eyes had been flashing back and forth between the screens, absorbing every bit of information that he could. When her name was called, his eyes fell on the middle screen and stayed locked there. For those few minutes, no other performances mattered. So he stood there from across the room, terrible coffee in hand and watching her.

She walked out to the center of the stage calmly, determination plastered all over her face.

For a moment, Drew's mind remembered seeing her at her first contest. The nerves and uncertainty as she took her place to perform that very first time were so unmistakable, that anyone watching her would have wondered what she was doing there or if she would ever compete again after that performance.

And now, all these months later, here she stood in the same place.

The same city, at the center of the stage, and she was a completely different person.

She was a completely different coordinator.

The amount of personal growth and balance she'd found throughout that season was undeniable. She'd had her fair share of setbacks throughout the last few months, but none of that was evident here. She had worked hard and earned her place there; she was where she was meant to be.

"Okay, Beautifly, take the stage!"

Just as the sunlight had done for his Roselia, the rays made Beautifly's wings radiate with shine. The crowd went absolutely wild as the sparkles rained down. It was May's most flawless contest entrance to date, and it couldn't have come at a better time or in a more important contest.

"Silver wind, Beautifly!" she powerfully commanded.

Beautifly angled itself upwards and launched its famous silver rays straight up into the sun. The result was something not even Drew would have come up with. The beams of light reflected so strongly in the direct sunlight, that when they broke apart high up in the air, the resulting ripples of glowing specks of light raining down on the crowd was beyond words. He only wished he'd been outside to see in person, because there was no way the cameras were doing it justice.

With the sparkles still raining down, May held out her hand and Beautifly took her place. The two posed perfectly, smiling and waving out to everyone in the crowd, thanking them for the praise while the crowd thanked them for their performance. It was May's best appeal, and he couldn't wait to see her score. Part of him wanted to congratulate her as well.

The 88 the judges had given her almost seemed wrong. He would have given her at least a 90. But that wasn't what ticked him off.

What ticked him off was Harley. As Drew reentered the main room, the first thing he heard was Harley's complaints about May and what a great performance she'd had.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Right as Drew walked through the threshold, Harley was mumbling to himself.

"Eighty-eight points?" he whined under his breath. "How could she have beaten me?"

 _Well, for one, your appeal was more concerned with power rather than beauty, which isn't the point of an appeal round…_

 _Not the time; critique later._

Now definitely wasn't the time to be a judge, though. Drew turned and looked Harley in the eyes. Harley in turn realized Drew was there and looked a bit taken aback for a second before he composed himself. Forever the actor, just as Drew was forever the coordinator.

"How are ya, Drew?" he asked in that annoying sweet tone he'd been using on May the whole time.

As if that would work on Drew, though.

"I knew ya'd get a high score!" Harley continued when Drew didn't speak.

"Yeah, right," Drew muttered in response.

Drew was already doing his best to ignore Harley's existence, but with that confirmation of what Drew already knew was really going on, he found it all the harder.

"Anyway, I'm actually off to find May out front right now before the final scores so…see ya!" Harley said a bit awkwardly.

With that, Harley quickly turned and left Drew standing there and staring after him.

And every instinct Drew had told him to follow.

* * *

At one point while roaming around the front of the arena, Drew decided it was best to keep his eyes on Harley every time he was around May. And, if he could, try to alert May – or at least one of her friends – what was really going on. He knew May's friend Brock was already suspicious, and he assumed her little brother was onto it as well. They weren't as clueless as he'd originally assumed, and they all definitely had May's best interest at heart.

How Harley managed to escape Drew's sight, he couldn't tell. He was definitely elusive, and perhaps Harley had noticed Drew was casually trailing him. Either way, Drew found himself wandering outside of the arena, looking for anyone, but preferably May. It was probably better to just tell her one-on-one without Harley there.

Problem was, Harley found May before Drew did.

He was gushing fake praise and admiration to her, absolutely droning on and on about how he told her he was right. And poor girl was buying it, returning his kindness right back to him, albeit hers was genuine. She truly believed he was a friend to her, and it made Drew angry.

The group of them was standing outside of the main stage area. None of them seemed to realize he was standing by, and Drew was trying to listen in on their conversation when Vivan's voice blared around them. Her face flashed across the massive display screen on the front of the main stage arena. It was time for the announcement of the 64 who would move on to round two.

It was definitely a major moment, but Drew found that he couldn't care less about it. Which was odd, because this was a competition he'd spent so long preparing for. Drew knew he'd made it through to the second round, because he knew he had obtained one of the highest scores of the day. And in those moments, he found that all he cared about was getting May to see how fake Harley was.

Again, odd.

Just how much did he actually care for this girl that she seemed to trump a huge Grand Festival moment for him?

"There she is, in 48th place!" Harley screeched.

Drew's eyes shifted to the massive video board, and counted the rows until he found May's picture. He actually didn't look for his own until after he confirmed she was still in the competition, and finally noticed he'd clenched the third place spot. He should have been bothered by the fact that he wasn't in first place, but with everything else going on, he figured it was good enough. And he was proud of Roselia for placing them so high on the board with so many other competitors.

The good feelings didn't last anywhere nearly as long as they should have, though. Drew then saw that – unfortunately – Harley had advanced as well, just squeezing in at number 59.

"Aw, looks like you and I are gonna be together a little while longer, huh?" Harley cheered.

Drew bit his tongue when he saw Harley had taken May's hands again. He fought to suppress the anger that he could feel slowly building up in the pit of his stomach. The gesture meant nothing, and he knew it. It didn't help much, though. It was annoying and fake and wrong on far too many levels for Drew to take with a grain of salt.

Especially when May's friends actually applauded Harley's appeal as well. His eyes looked to Brock for a split second, who failed to notice Drew was near, just like they all had, and it felt like some form of betrayal.

"I'm gonna keep on using silver wind as my only attack just like you suggested!" May continued speaking.

"Alright!" Harley encouraged. "That's what I'm counting on, May!"

Drew could only glare at Harley in response. Clearly he wasn't going to get through to May or any one in her group at the moment. He'd have to speak to them alone, or Harley would completely deny everything right in front of them. And from the excited looks all on their faces, it seemed as though they would probably take his side. It definitely felt like betrayal.

Drew took the chance to leave and remain unseen by the group. He needed to go somewhere private and think. He also needed to share the good news with his Pokémon and prep them for the second day and second round of the Grand Festival. For some reason, it bothered Drew immensely that he couldn't tell which of the two items on his to-do list was more important.

And with all that had gone down in just the first few days alone, Drew knew it was going to be a long weekend.

* * *

Training seemed somewhat pointless for the second round appeals.

Drew and Masquerain had been working on their showcase for weeks, and with the grounds so overwhelmed with people (which was amazing considering so many had been eliminated the day prior), Drew did not want to show what he had planned to anyone.

Priming Masquerain on the first round appeal stage seemed good enough for the day.

His Pokémon were out with him, center stage, enjoying the sunshine. Drew was washing Masquerain up, increasing his Pokémon's shine and appeal while Roselia watched carefully to make sure he didn't miss any spots. He was thankful he had her with him.

It was calm and peaceful, and despite the constant chatter from the nearby festivalgoers, Drew found himself relaxed and ready to take on the upcoming second round appeals. His Pokémon seemed just as prepared as well.

And it was the best moment he'd had the entire weekend. A nice, easy-going morning where all he had to focus on was the contest. He wished it could last forever. He also had a dreadful sense that the moment was the "calm-before-the-storm."

Unfortunately for him, his theory proved to be right as the people he wanted to see least also appeared on that stage as well.

May and her crew walked onto the stage slowly, Brock coaching her on how the battle rounds would be were she to make it that far. And much to his disdain, Harley was in toe with the rest of the group, looking disgustingly sweet as always. For a moment, he and Drew shared a quick look, and Harley seemed to wink at him, but the moment was so quick, and Drew wasn't positive it happened at all. Come to think of it, their whole group being particularly there, where he had settled down for the day, seemed odd to him at all. Drew couldn't be sure, but he was almost certain that Harley did that on purpose; dangled May right in front of him to show he had the upper hand and could influence her.

Either way, the rest of the group seemed oblivious to his presence, and didn't acknowledge him as he watched them.

"What, really?" May questioned when Brock explained to her she'd have to use two Pokémon in the battle rounds.

Drew rolled his eyes; it figured she wouldn't have read up on the rules herself. It was so like her.

So like this girl who'd come into his world and his coordinating career, never knowing where she'd go next or how to handle any situations before hand. She lived in the moment and went off of her intuition. And he'd come to expect that from her; he'd grown used to being surprised by her. Maybe that's what had intrigued him about her, and maybe that's why he felt the need to protect her from the threat standing three feet to her left.

"The manual says that the first round is one-on-one; same as usual," Brock read from his guidebook. "But the second round is all double battles, so make sure Combusken and all the others are ready to go, too."

"Double battles, huh?" May inquired, a certain look in her eye. "Good; I'll be ready for 'em."

There was her fire that made her who she was. That fire Drew was drawn to; that fire Drew knew he wanted to keep alive so she could have her fair shot in the competition, and so he could battle her eventually. There was just the matter of that pesky purple-haired creep next to her…

"Well, May, it seems like you're all pumped up and ready to go!" Ash proclaimed from beside her. "Training really is the best way to get yourself psyched for the battle rounds. And seeing all these coordinators has me even more pumped to train with Snorunt on his ice beam attack!"

The young Kanto-based trainer then released said Pokémon, and the Pokémon began dancing around happily free from its Pokéball. Everyone around the happy ice type greeted him easily, and Ash took his chance to leave, off to train somewhere else.

"Wait, Ash!" Max called out, stopping him. "Mom, can I please go? Please?"

"I don't see why not if Ash is okay with it, sweetie," May and Max's mother smiled sweetly. "You boys have fun!"

"Alright!" Max squealed as he jumped in the air and chased after his older friend. "Ash, wait up!"

May smiled as she watched her brother and friend run off towards the beach together and turned back towards her remaining party.

"I guess it's time to get to work, huh?" she asked cheerfully.

"You betcha!" Harley cheered. "Why don't you go on and let all your Pokémon out? Cacturne and I can go for the first round."

"Can do!" May said, reaching into her pack and tossing her Pokéballs in the air. "C'mon out, everybody! It's time to practice!"

One by one, Drew watched as her team emerged from their Pokéballs. Her Combusken and Skitty landed gracefully before her. Her Bulbasaur looked around for a bit with its eyes shining while her Munchlax came directly out snoozing. Drew wondered if her Munchlax was going to compete at all, but doubted it seeing as she probably hadn't owned the Pokémon for a long enough period of time.

Her Beautifly fluttered high up into the air before slowly descending and landing a top her head; a spot that Drew assumed was one of the Pokémon's favorites.

Meanwhile, Harley called off Cactune silently on the side, more interested in observing May's team than his own. The whole stage was filled with Pokémon, all restless with energy.

With all present and accounted for, May's party looked up to her, waiting.

"Which one of you wants to pair up with Beautifly for our first practice?" May asked her eager Pokémon.

In response, her entire team volunteered, causing the coordinator to blush, seemingly slightly embarrassed for some reason by her Pokémons' enthusiasm. She waved her hands in front of her.

"Okay, okay, then we'll take turns!" she laughed and turned back to Harley. "Is it okay with you if I use them all, Harley?"

"No problem," he reassured her.

Brock, meanwhile, seemed a bit skeptical.

"Are you sure about Beautifly?" he questioned cautiously.

It was good to see one of the people in May's party seemed to have some sense, and Drew was thankful Brock spoke out, because somehow, they still hadn't noticed he was there. Well, Harley knew, as they'd already made brief eye contact several times, but clearly he hadn't seen the need to inform May or her friends he was there.

"Definitely!" May beamed. "Silver wind is what got me this far! Alright Skitty, you're up!"

Her tiny cat Pokémon purred excitedly, and ran to take its place before its trainer and prepare for battle.

Drew was watching them all intently. His eyes flickered back and fourth between May, her Pokémon, her friend, her mother, and Harley. Over and over, his eyes went back and fourth, studying them and silently willing one of the good guys to speak up and point out why this was wrong. Roselia was looking at her trainer, willing him to stay focused and stay out of it all, but she could see how important this was to him, so she stayed quiet as well.

"You go on and make the first move!" Harley called.

Drew silently wished that he could have put money down in a bet on which move May was going to use. Somehow, he knew with every fiber of his being she was going to call for assist, because it was just something he knew that she would do. But there were a few things he didn't expect.

First, he didn't expect that powerful fire spin Skitty had produced to stun Harley as much as it had. His Cacturne held its own as it fought against the flames when they dispersed around him.

"Assist again, Skitty!"

Out came her Beautifly's silver wind. Drew couldn't help but notice how it paled in comparison to the original it was copying, though it still was an impressive move. He also notice how Harley's confusion instantly shifted into some form of dark understanding the second May's Skitty ceased its silver wind. And his face transformed into one of knowing.

"THAT WAS COOL!" Harley bellowed, popping up right at her side.

Drew really wanted to teach the guy about personal space, but before he could speak, Harley kept on going at 100 miles a minute.

"I didn't know you had a trick like _this_ up your sleeve, May!" he coated it on thicker. "With that assist of yours, you could pull a perfect combination with Beautifly's silver wind and you'd be unbeatable!"

Harley wasn't dumb by any means. Just observing the guy for a day told Drew that he was clever and sneaky, probably too much for his own good. Hell, he'd convinced May to trust him again with a few fake tears. He knew how to play people and he knew how to play them extremely well. How Solidad could be friends with someone like this was an enigma for another day.

And because Harley clearly was intelligent, it was surely obvious to him that assist was an unpredictable attack. It would draw a move from any single one of a trainer's Pokémon. Completely random and totally unpredictable, and almost everyone knew that.

Still, May believed he didn't understand how it all worked.

"I can't…" she hesitated. "Cause there's no telling whether I'll get silver wind or something else…"

Good; she saw the flaw in Harley's logic. She knew this wasn't the way to go. Maybe she was finally opening her eyes to how wrong this all was.

Still, Harley persisted.

"But the judges wouldn't penalize you for that!"

 _Yes, they would; especially in the Grand Festival_.

"Why that's the appeal of the assist!"  
 _  
There is no appeal in luck or gambling._

"It's exciting not to know what's coming next!"

 _It's asking for disaster and potential for elimination._

"Your Pokémon are all so great, it doesn't matter anyway!"

 _Oh, it matters._

And much to Drew's growing horror, May believed it. She believed every word. Of course her Pokémon were great on their own, but she was so quick to eat up compliments the second she got them, and wanted them to be true so dangerously badly.

"You know, you might be right, Harley!" May slowly picked up excitement. "I think I will use Skitty in the first round!"

"Go for it, May."

Drew rose to his feet, his fists balled in his pockets and his temper rising slowly.

It would be her downfall: her lack of self-confidence. And she absolutely had no reason to doubt herself. She's made it to the Grand Festival without Harley's lies and terrible advice. She should have known that. And although she made it through the first round following Harley's instructions and used her silver wind to land her a place in the secondary appeals, Drew rationalized that she probably would have used that move anyway. So that, he couldn't credit to Harley; she'd made it as far as she had on her own.

Why couldn't she see that? Why didn't she believe in her Pokémon? It was the very heart and soul of coordinating, and if she hadn't realized it by then, she didn't deserve to be there.

He'd had enough; Drew decided he needed to say something, or the anger inside of him with hearing all these lies would set him on fire.

Even May's mother saw how much of a gamble her daughter would be taking.

"Kind of a risky strategy," Caroline commented lifting Skitty in her arms.

"I'll say," Drew took his chance to cut in, and left with those words.

Drew wanted to fight it. He wanted to battle against and challenge all of Harley's words, but he knew all that would result in was Harley combating his every claim.

And he didn't know if he could stomach watching May stick to Harley's side.

His peaceful morning had definitely been ruined.

* * *

He never understood the reason people would shoot off fireworks during the day.

Fireworks were bursts of multicolored fire specifically made for nighttime skies, and yet here at the Grand Festival, they were firing them off during the day. The only effect they achieved was the resulting pale-colored smoke and the booming noises that followed the blasts.

It was dumb, pointless and useless in his mind.

But he assumed he was being far more judgmental because those fireworks marked the start of the secondary rounds.

The order for the rounds had been draw and sent to every coordinator according. Harley would be the second performer overall, and Drew couldn't wait to see what he would do. As for himself, he was slated as the 62nd performer. He would be one of the last to go in the second round, as the top three finishers from the first round always closed out the secondary rounds.

As competitors went on and performed, he looked on. The 64 remaining coordinators that surrounded him were the best of the best, and he began to idly wonder if he should have practiced with Masquerain a bit that morning before coming to the waiting area.

But that was when he noticed Harley and May in the middle of the crowd backstage. With the sighting, he instantly steeled himself. He'd been around too much self-doubt, and there was no way he'd let himself question his Pokémon now. He knew they'd be great.

He refused to let anything shake his game.

"May, what's wrong?" Harley asked.

"Just…looking for someone…" May admitted.

Drew raised an eyebrow. Could she have been looking for…

"You're looking for Drew, aren't you?" Harley prodded, as if he would have been threatened were the answer to be yes.

Much to Drew's trepidation, May looked almost horrified that he'd even suggest that. And it stung him in ways and for reasons he didn't quite understand. It also confused him in a plethora of ways. Why didn't she care where he was? How would he have felt if she had answered yes?

"This guy we met had his pass stolen, so…"

Drew stopped paying attention then; if she wasn't interested in him, he wouldn't waste his interest on whatever was distracting her from what she should have really been focusing on.

He had enough to deal with, anyway; being hurt over a small crush was not something he wanted to waste his Grand Festival on.

"Oh my; I'd hate to think that there might be dishonesty around us…" Harley shivered.

He made sure he ignored Harley even harder.

* * *

"The first round here on the main stage will consist of single Pokémon performances with time limited to three minutes each."

Vivian once again went over the rules and contest proceedings for what felt like the millionth time. This, of course, was standard procedure and just general etiquette for any contest and the Grand Festival was no exception. He couldn't fight the rulebook just because he was eager to get started. Still, he felt like he could have given this introduction speech because he'd read the rule book so many times.

He only forced himself to pay attention so he'd know when the actual appeals started, and start they did.

With only three minutes to showcase why they deserved to move on, absolutely no coordinator was going to waste their time. The first kid, whose name Drew couldn't be bothered to remember, ran out and instantly released his Ninetails, calling for a flamethrower before the Pokémon had even appeared.

Somehow, he found he wasn't actually able to focus on the performance, though, as an idea formed in his mind. With Harley's performance second, he wouldn't be in the waiting area. He would be in line out near the stage, meaning May would be alone.

If he was going to have a chance to talk to her, it was then, so he started searching.

It didn't take long to find her; her signature red stood out amongst the crowd. Her sapphire eyes were locked onto the screen, watching the first performance intently, like he should have been doing. But this was far more important.

He approached her slowly and she never turned to look at him. Just like the day before, she was unaware he was even there. Or…was she ignoring him? Maybe Harley told her to avoid him with the "walking-away-stunt" he pulled yesterday. Maybe he should have stuck around.

Ugh, social interact was such a chore. Caring for someone was even more so.

But he wanted to do this. He needed to do this, because this girl was so important. This girl had saved his life, and he'd come to realize she had in more ways than just keeping him alive on Mirage Island all those months ago.

Now he was going to save her, because he needed to see her reach her full potential. He was at his best when she was at hers. She made him a better person. She made him care, which very few people had ever managed to do before.

"Sup?" he said easily, taking a place next to her.

She seemed a bit startled when he stopped, and broke her gaze from the monitor where the Ninetails had been pulling off an impressive fire spin to face him.

"Oh, hi, Drew," she said a bit slowly. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine," he waved off casually. "Just ready to get started. Are you ready for this round?"

May shrugged, and her eyes moved to the floor.

"That's good," she held her hands intertwined in front of her, her thumbs twirling around each other. "I guess I'm a little nervous. The main stage seems so much more intimidating than the smaller ones were."

"You'll be fine," he told her. "Your Pokémon can do great things if you believe in them."

She looked over to him, her eyes seeming a little wider than usual.

"And they already have; they got you here in the first place, didn't they?" he continued. "But look, May, that isn't what I came over here to say. I need to talk to you about something. I–"

"Wait, Drew, hold that thought!" May chirped, wheeling around to face the monitor. "Harley's on!"

Drew bit his tongue and turned to face the screen as she had. Sure enough, Harley was there, center stage, calling out a rough-looking Banette.

The Pokémon's mount unhinged, and gave off an eerie smile and dark laugh. Everyone around them seemed to go silent as the ghost type captivated and terrorized the whole stadium just with its entry along.

"Whoa…that's a scary Pokémon," May shivered next to him.

Drew held his breath for a moment, choosing not to make a cheap comment on how Banette and Harley could have been twins (because it was far below his maturity level no matter how true it was), intent on studying the routine Harley and his Pokémon put together.

He figured that Harley couldn't have put together a better appeal to represent who he was even if he had tried. The will-o-wisp and thunder combination wasn't the tightest combination he'd seen, but the fact that Harley made his own Pokémon attack himself, as well as enjoy the undeniable pain that had to come with raining a thunder bolt down on itself while still maintaining control over its blue flames was… well, it was something. And as much as he hated to admit it, he was slightly impressed. Still, that admiration was far outweighed by his disdain for the Cacturne-clad rival.

It didn't take long for Drew to realize that was it. Harley had chosen not to utilize the full three minutes he had been given for the appeal. He limited himself to only two attacks, and he'd managed to earn himself a high score. Vivian used the right words to describe the whole show; creepy and unsettling. Drew agreed that's definitely what this boy and his tactics were. How Harley found joy in that, he didn't quite understand. He just smirked at the possibility of getting to wipe that gross smile off his face in the battle rounds; there was no doubt Harley was going to make it that far with 89 points to his name.

"Harley just keeps surprising me…" May admitted, starring at the screen in awe.

Just wait until she found out the truth…then she'd really be surprised.

Drew cleared his throat as the camera showed Harley exit the stage and the next coordinator enter. May turned back to face him.

"Anyway," Drew tried to continue.

"Drew, I'm surprised you seem to be so talkative today…" May said a little shyly. "I'd imagine you of all people would want to watch these performances?"

"I think this is a little more important, May," he responded, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Look, it's about Harley."

That seemed to surprise her a little bit. She turned back to face him fully and gave him her undivided attention. Her eyes held a look of tension in them. She no doubt already figured Drew had problems with Harley, and she clearly didn't want to fight anyone on it. May probably didn't want to give up the one person backstage who was showering her with compliments and praises for every breath she took.

Too bad it was all lies, and too bad she needed to know that.

"Yeah, what about him?" she asked curiously, cautiously.

Drew sucked in a breath, but before he could get even a single word out, Harley jumped up behind May, scaring both of them. May shrieked and Drew jumped a little, the hairs on the back of his neck rising He kept his face even, though. Especially when Harley's arms snaked their way around her waist and he rested his head on her right shoulder.

Drew swore the incredibly one-sided personal contact Harley would initiate got more intimate every time Drew was around her, and Drew would have been willing to be that was 100 percent intentional. All he could do was grit his teeth and do his best to ignore the way his face would heat up.

"So, what did you guys think, huh?!" Harley's face and voice were higher than Drew could recall seeing it. "Great, huh? My Banette really is a doll!"

"Yeah, Harley, it was really something…" May smiled awkwardly and looked for a way to free herself from his grasp.

Harley held her in place tightly, though, and Drew silently debated on walking away. But he'd made that mistake yesterday trying to have the last word, and he'd made no progress in freeing May from Harley's web. He couldn't make that mistake again.

He never answered Harley's question about how his performance had been or what he thought of it. He just stood beside May, silently fuming about everything.

The group of three three stayed together and watched the appeals with Harley throwing in snide comments about some performances and comparing them to his own. According to Harley, his Banette, of course, won out every time; even the performances that scored higher than he had didn't impress him all that much. Drew just rolled his eyes every time and tried to contain the need to tell the boy to shut the hell up. May, meanwhile, stayed silent.

A part of Drew wondered what she was thinking, or what could have happened had he had the chance to say what he wanted to say before they were interrupted.

He never looked over to her, though. He kept his eyes on the increasing number at the bottom of the screen.

Coordinator number 36…number 37….number 38…

The numbers kept rising slowly, and Drew suddenly realized something.

 _It's my turn soon…_

* * *

May went on before he did, which was annoying.

It wasn't annoying because she went first. It was annoying because he had to be alone with Harley.

Just like everyone else, the backstage organizers called May to line up at least seven performances before her actual turn.

"Good luck out there, hun!" Harley had squeezed the life out of her before she left. "Get out there and show 'em all how great that assist is!"

"You got it," she nodded, and turned to face Drew.

He didn't say anything to her, but looked her dead straight in her sapphire blue eyes, silently pleading with her to know using only assist was the worst thing she could do. She would not advance if she relied on just that one move, and he wanted to battle her out there so badly, that he swore he actually needed it. He couldn't earn his first ribbon cup without her being a part of it.

He needed her to know how great and smart and gifted she was, and that she was asking for failure by not believing in herself or her Pokémon.

He needed her to understand all of the things he didn't more than he needed air to breathe. And he prayed like hell to Arceus she could see that in his eyes.

All she did was give him a small smile, and turn to exit the room.

"Go girl, go!" Harley waved and cheered until she was out of sight.

He turned back to the screen and looked at Drew out of the corner of his eyes, who did the same to him, before they both turned their attention back to the performance on stage.

That had been nine minutes ago, and no interactions had passed between them. No words had even been exchanged, but the tension made the air seem thick like it was filled with a Koffing's smog.

Drew could only stomach being near him for three performances before he excused himself. He headed for the restroom as the morning's coffee had finally caught up to him. Honestly he would have left even if he didn't need to. Plus, he figured he'd be back in time for May's performance.

* * *

There was another viewing monitor out in the hallway; one no other coordinator was standing by, probably because they didn't know it was there. He himself hadn't seen it until he was returning from the restroom and one final pep talk with Masquerain.

He elected to watch May's performance alone out there before returning to the madhouse that was the waiting area. He'd need to be there for his name to be called, but he also didn't want to spoil watching his rival perform by having to share it with other people.

"A solid score!" Vivian called out regarding the last performance. "Now let's move along: here's May making another appearance!"

This was it: Drew focused all of his attention on the screen as the flash of red that was May entered the arena,

She ran out with more enthusiasm than he'd ever seen her. May was all smiles and bursting with happiness and laughter as she ran out to take her place in the spotlight. If she was nervous before this, it was not showing. She was there and she was ready.

"Skitty, take the stage!"

With a graceful throw and spin, she introduced her Skitty to the roaring crowd, all of whom were enthralled to see such a cute and playful Pokémon compete. Skitty bounced and did several rolling flips in the air before it landed in a starting position before her coordinator posed before her.

With just her entry alone, May seemed to have the whole stadium cheering for her.

 _All right, May. Follow your instinct. Trust in yourself and your team._

"Skitty, use assist!"

Drew held his breath; this was it. This was the beginning, and he hoped like hell it wasn't the beginning of the end for her. He believed she was capable of beating herself and Harley. If she actually pulled it off was a whole different story.

Skitty commanded a powerful silver wind, spiraling and glimmering in the intense sunlight of Slateport City. It almost seemed like it was fate, as May had started the Grand Festival with silver wind in the first round, and here she was in round two beginning with it again. Hopefully the judges wouldn't think it was too repetitive.

The crowd seemed pleased with the move as they all cheered and encouraged her to continue.

"That was awesome, Skitty!" May clapped. "Use assist again!"

The second assist produced razor leaf, curtesy of her Bulbasaur. The deadly leaves shot out at an amazing rate of speed, dispersing the last bands of the previous silver wind above her head.

"Assist one more time!"

Drew knew it wouldn't be the last time. May clearly planned to stick with the strategy Harley had given her, and maybe it was the adrenaline she felt, but she didn't seem to notice the cheering of the crowd dying off ever so slightly.

A blinding fire spin came out third, turning the remaining leaves into ash and making the whole stadium even hotter. It was a wonder such a tiny Pokémon could produce so much fierce firepower.

Assist after assist, Skitty fired off every attack May's Pokémon team had minus its own. Vine whips, string shots and gusts were just some of the many moves that rained down randomly all over the stage, and the camera's pan shots of the audience began to showcase more confused faces than entertained ones. Still, they cheered, but it was hard to miss how much less cheering there was vs. when May first entered the stage.

She was losing points and she didn't even seem to notice.

The problem was, her appeal was all over the place. There was no rhyme or reason, no synchronization, no order. Her attacks flowed randomly as her Skitty obeyed its orders and continued to randomly draw from the move pool May had.

Vivian had pointed out the creativity of showcasing all of May's team through repeating the same move over and over, but it may have been too late. May only had a minute and 20 seconds left on the stage, and she showed no signs of slowing down.

A quick shot of the judges faces told Drew that Mr. Contesta was thinking exactly what Drew feared he would think: the appeal was too random, and it didn't show off May's Skitty, who was the one actually performing. Showing your other team's charms is great, when they're the ones on stage. In contests, who you were paired with in a round was who you were expected to show off.

"And another assist!"

No one in that stadium, not even May, could have predicted the solar beam that shot off. It caught Drew by surprise as well, because he knew her Bulbasaur didn't know the move.

May froze on stage, the look on her face matching that of her Skitty's: complete and utter surprise.

And confusion.

She and her Skitty seemed to be having a silent conversation in the middle of the stage…during the middle of their performance. And it didn't bode well for her. Stopping her momentum so suddenly was going to cost her more points than she was already losing by repeating the same move over and over.

"Something's thrown May off, and with hardly any time left!" Vivian exclaimed, as if to remind May that she was still on the clock.

May snapped back into reality as if she'd been stuck by lightning.

She called out for assist again (surprisingly), and a gorgeous petal dance began to spiral into existence. Drew had to blink a few times; it was still strange to him to see May pulling off his signature move.

There was a reason Drew stuck with petal dance so many times. Petal dance was a brilliant move in contests; it had every type of appeal from beauty to grace. It even spread a delicate sweet scent that he hadn't met a single person who didn't like.

But petal dance sometimes had its drawbacks.

Using it as often as he did, his Roselia had mastered the art of pulling off petal dance attacks and never suffered from its negative effects. Often times, though, weaker, more inexperienced Pokémon who weren't familiar with the move suffered from self-inflicted confusion.

It seemed as though May's Skitty was one of those weaker, more inexperienced Pokémon.

Skitty began to wobble around the stage, struggling to keep her balance started to run frantically in circles around itself. Skitty would often chase its own tail, but this was not one of those playful moments. This was bad luck.

May looked panic-stricken as she failed to talk her Skitty down and lost control of the performance as a whole.

The audience then shifted into fits of giggles and laughter as May's Skitty continued to dance around crazily, and the judges looked divided. Mr. Contesta looked disappointed while the Nurse Joys looked a bit more sympathetic. Mr. Sukizo, meanwhile, joined the crowd in their laughter.

He knew this would happen. Well, not specifically this; he wasn't psychic, after all. But Drew had known if May had stuck with assist, eventually something would definitely go wrong.

May stood there, frozen, clearly desperate for her Pokémon to settle down, but it seemed as though nothing she said could break through to the tiny kitten Pokémon.

And it looked like this was it; the end of the run for May's Grand Festival experience.

It was sad to think that Drew might have been able to prevent this had he just been able to talk to her, but maybe this was what she deserved for not knowing better on her own.

As sad as it was for him to admit, he didn't think their battle would happen after all, and it stung.

He turned away from the screen, then, marching straight back into the waiting room with all the other coordinators. He was intent of finally giving Harley a piece of his mind.

The coordinators backstage seemed divided on how to react to the spectacle on stage. Some looked sad for May, while others looked embarrassed and some just plain laughed out loud at the poor girl's expense.

Drew ignored all of them, and marched right up behind Harley, reaching his hand out to grab his shoulder and turn him around – or punch him in the face. He didn't know; it seemed like it was going to be a spur of the moment kind of thing. But before he made contact, he heard Harley snickering and withdrew his hand.

"It's working!" Harley praised himself. "All my advice about sticking to one attack has her and her Skitty totally confused. That'll teach you to mess with me."

"I knew it!" Drew exploded, unable to keep himself composed.

Harley wheeled around to look down at Drew, horrified. He'd been caught and he knew it.

Drew, meanwhile, had known all along. All weekend long so far, he'd known this was what Harley was after: May's failure and humiliation. And it seemed he'd more or less achieved that goal. Drew suspected this plan all along, but for him to actually hear the douche admit it out loud, even if it was accidental, still burned Drew to his core. And it almost made his blood boil.

"You're no friend of May's; all that phony baloney was just a way to take advantage of her," he accused, his hands holding onto both of his hips, because he knew if he let go, he'd probably strangle the guy right then and there.

 _No one – absolutely no one – messed with his girl with the red bandana._

When Harley seemed to realize it was just Drew speaking, a new air of confidence and smugness took over his features.

"So what?" Harley mocked. "It's a competition, right? It wasn't my fault she was stupid enough to believe me."

Drew was fighting every single one of his instincts not to lose his temper. This guy was professional at getting under people's skin, and Drew refused to be a victim to that.

"Step aside, shrimp," Harley laughed as he moved to step past Drew. "I'm done dealing with you losers now that little Maisy is taken care of."

But Drew immediately stepped in front of Harley, blocking his path and earning a glare in the process.

"You're not going anywhere," Drew said slowly, darkly. "You're going to stay right here with me, and whether or not May loses, you're going to stand here and explain to her how you fucked with her and wanted her to lose, so she can see what a disgusting piece of shit you really are."

Harley raised an eyebrow.

"My, my, Mr. Hayden," he responded. "Such language. But fine: it'll be worth it to see the look on her face when she finds out."

The boys continued to glare at each other until one little moment changed the moment so drastically.

"How mystifying!" Vivain's voice overtook the room.

Both Drew and Harley turned back to face the monitor to see May's Skitty double slapping itself. Harley and everyone else in the room seemed utterly lost as to what May was trying to do, and Drew wasn't totally sure either, but he knew whatever it was, she was about to save her own ass.

He smirked and flipped his hair as he watched her on screen, a new look in her eyes as she waited for her Skitty to finish.

 _Now there's the girl I know and...the coordinator I respect._

Skitty landed back on its feet, upright and ready to continue, totally free of all confusion. It was ready to conclude the strange performance, and May was more than eager to go with it.

"What?!" Harley gasped, unbelieving that his "perfect plan" was falling apart. "No way!"

The shocked and defeated look on his face was one Drew enjoyed more than he thought possible.

"Now let's finish this up!" May called out, her confidence restored. "Blizzard!"

The tiny Pokémon began to spin with an intense velocity, leaving crystals and strong gusts of ice in its path. It rose up high into the air, creating a rugged and jagged town of glowing ice, refracting rainbows off of its edges in the sunlight. With the tower complete, Skitty landed in a perfect position, right at the center and on top. It happily smiled and waved to the screaming crowd.

With that, May's sporadic performance came to a close, and the judges tallied up her points as everyone waited to see how the girl with the red bandana had faired in such a chaotic-structured appeal.

79.

Harley laughed and Drew bit the inside of his cheek.

The score was harsh, but it was definitely to be expected. Drew couldn't even act surprised, but he definitely was skeptical about her ability to move on with that score.

And it made him angrier than it already was.

She was capable of much better numbers, but she chose to rely on the "help" from this terrible deceiver standing in front of him. And this asshole in front of him, who cheated to try to win a Grand Festival, was laughing beside him. It was disgraceful, tasteless and borderline sickening.

"Too bad for your girlfriend," Harley teased from beside him.

Drew turned to look up at Harley, and had every intention of correcting his "girlfriend" comment, but the smug "I won" smile on his face twisted something deep inside Drew.

"You don't even deserve to be a coordinator," Drew retorted lowly. "I don't even want to know the ways or how many times you cheated to get to this contest, because you clearly aren't a good coordinator on your own if you have to resort to such cheap ways to get ahead. You are the worst of the worst, Harley, and I can't wait to watch you lose."

Drew's words erased all evidence of Harley's content, and it was replaced by a cold, hard glare. The two starred each other down with such animosity that the building could have been set on fire from the heat of their hatred towards each other in that moment.

The sound of approaching footsteps was what broke their focus on each other. Both boys turned away to face a downcast May, who kept her eyes on the floor and looked as if she was fighting to hold back tears. She looked more glum than Drew had ever seen her; even more so than when she ran past in in tears during her loss at the first contest she'd ever been in, or when she'd faced her humiliating defeat in Rubello Town.

All Drew could think about was how this pain she was feeling; this utter sense of loss and heartbreak was due to the boy standing between them. The one May had foolishly placed her trust in. She should have known better.

Everything was ruined because she should have known better. The great battle they were supposed to have, the rivals they were supposed to be, the damn way he felt about her…all of it. It was all ruined because she should have known not to trust this guy.

It was so hard to know that it had all been taken away because of this greedy, narcissistic, Cacturne-obsessed jackass between them.

At the end of the day, that's why Harley bothered Drew to his core: he came between him and May.

And he realized that that was what pissed him off the most.

"I'm sorry I let you down, Harley, but I couldn't do it with assist alone…" May apologized.

She apologized.

She actually apologized to Harley. She apologized to the guy who – more or less – fucked her over.

Drew's fists balled at his sides.

"Don't apologize to him," Drew snapped.

"Why?" May seemed confused.

"That whole line about using only one attack, it was all just his plot to make sure you wouldn't win," Drew explained, almost offended that it still wasn't clear at this point.

"What…do you mean?" she still didn't understand.

How was it not obvious? Harley was glaring at the both of them now. It couldn't be any clearer what the problem was.

Harley sniffed, clearly tired of the both of them. He looked down over his shoulder back at Drew, who glared right back at him.

"It almost worked, too, and you never would have known if your annoying boyfriend here had kept his trap shut," Harley explained, the disdain leaking out of every word.

Drew growled at him. Drew actually growled at him. There he went again with the "boyfriend-girlfriend" thing. And Drew didn't know what he was angrier about: the false titles or the fact that Harley might have had the nerve to keep this going for longer, or the whole situation altogether. Either way, he was over it. He was so completely over all of it.

"But wait, what about all those compliments and nice things you said to me?!" May demanded, her brain seeming to finally process what was going on.

"I only did that to gain your trust," Harley retorted. "And you swallowed it all hook, line and sinker."

May's fists balled by her side, and her body began to shake slightly. The tremors rocked her to her very core, the unshed tears slowly returning to her eyes. But they had a new emotion behind them. May was angry. May was completely and undeniably pissed off.

 _Finally…but also, too late.  
_  
"But…that's just…so rotten!" May yelled.

Her scream echoed off the walls in the room and everyone grew silent. All the coordinators in the room turned their attention away from the appeals on screen and focused on the fight breaking out in the middle of the room.

May looked up at the boy before her with so much aggravation in her eyes, but Harley just shrugged it off.

"Ugh, please, cry me a river!" Harley shouted right back, bending over and sticking his face in her face. "It's your own fault, anyway, May. Never trust anyone!"

Well, Harley wasn't wrong. Drew may have stayed silent for the last few moments of the exchange, but he was paying a lot of attention to everything said. And Drew had made it as far as he had by not trusting anyone, and making his own way.

Still, this was May; a girl with a bottomless supply of hope for the world and all those in it. She always wanted to believe in the best in people. And that much optimism ended up costing her so much.

His words shook May. Drew watched as she shrunk back away from Harley, her eyes shining brighter as the tears threatened to finally spill over.

"I still don't understand why you did it…" she almost whispered.

"I did it to get revenge against you," Harley admitted.

Revenge? What on earth could May have possible done to merit the need for revenge?

May looked just as lost as Drew felt.

"FOR THE TIME YOU BEAT ME IN THE PURIKA COMPETITION!" Harley suddenly screeched.

This had to be a joke. Drew could not believe this Grand Festival was real anymore. All of this pain and all of this loss was caused because the guy couldn't handle a loss.

Drew just stood there, taking in the absurdity of it all.

"But I beat you fair and square!" May pointed out, clearly just as shocked. "Why would you want revenge for that?"

"You say it was fair because you won it!" Harley combatted.

 _This can't be happening. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen.  
_  
"But you won't be winning today!" Harley taunted.

 _This guy is literally fucking insane.  
_  
"Not with that score!" Harley finished.

May backed off again, at a loss for words. Harley took his opportunity to ditch.

"Move," Harley threw out, shoving May out of the way as he walked past.

On instinct, Drew reached out and steadied to catch her before she could trip over herself. He grabbed her waist and held her still until she regained her balace. May was too caught up in the heat of the moment to notice, and Drew took his hands back quickly and took a few steps back of his own. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched as Harley made his dramatic exit.

"Sorry," Harley threw carelessly over his shoulder with a sarcastic wave. "Got things to do, places to be!"

"What a creep," May muttered to herself, then raised her volume. "AND YOU DRESS WEIRD!"

It was a desperate swing and they both knew it. It was bad enough for May that Harley got the last word, and she felt so defeated, she needed to have at least one advantage.

Meanwhile, Drew kept his eyes on Harley until he was out of sight. He felt an array of negative emotions swirling within him. And they were aimed everywhere.

He hated Harley for causing all this havoc at what was supposed to be the best few days of his life. He hated May for falling for the lies so easily, for taking so long to realize it all and for not correcting Harley when he called Drew May's boyfriend (though he realized he hadn't corrected Harley when he called May Drew's girlfriend, earlier). Above all, he hated himself for getting in too deep, for not doing more to stop it and for getting so distracted during his Grand Festival.

He needed to scream. He needed to punch something. He needed to set something on fire. He needed to forget all of these emotions, because they were so messy and complicated, and things had been so much simpler in his life before he met this girl.

He wished he'd never met her.

He wished he'd never met May.

"He was right about one thing though, you have to admit," Drew said calmly; a tone that completely betrayed how wrecked he was inside.

Somewhere in the background of all the chaos, he could here the backstage manager calling out the names of the next few coordinators who needed to go line up.

May turned and looked at him, a sense of loss on her face.

Her eyes told him that she was sorry for not hearing him out. Sorry for not believing him since the first day there. Sorry for not knowing better. Sorry for not being able to understand it was all fake. Sorry for being so damn optimistic.

Sorry for being herself.

"You shouldn't have trusted him."

"How could I know?!" she begged.

It was like she could tell Drew was done. It was like she knew she had no friends in the Grand Festival anymore. And she didn't want to be alone.

The manager was still calling names out, and he knew any second, he was going to hear his own.

May just looked at him, so depressed. Drew knew in the context of her words, and in the depths of her eyes, she was begging him to stay.

It only made him angrier.

"Stop listening to advice from other people!" he snapped at her. "Just trust in your Pokémon and do what you know in your heart is right."

May flinched away from him. He stared at her with all the intensity he could gather.

"Number 62: Drew Hayden."

Without another word, Drew Hayden turned and walked away from her, because he was done playing this game. He had a Grand Festival to focus on, and he vowed all his attention there on out would stay on the competition at hand.

After all, contest first, feelings second.

But, in that moment, Drew had convinced himself there were no feelings left.

* * *

He swore he could hear his own heartbeat.

And it wasn't just because of the adrenaline of the fight he'd just had backstage.

Over the thousands of deafening cheers and the echoes they produced inside of that huge stadium, he swore he could hear every single pump his heart performed. And he could feel the blood flowing in his veins. And he could eel the earth turning beneath his feet.

All of it; he swore he could feel all of it.

He swore he had never felt more alive.

His name had been called, just as it had at every other contest. He entered the stage from the side hall, just as he always had: slowly and poised. And he took his place on the stage, same as he always did.

Only this time, his body felt electric and he more ready to get his performance on than he ever had been before.

This moment – the moment he took his place at the heart of the Grand Festival's main arena – was what he'd always dreamed of and what he'd been working towards for years (well, this and of course being handed the ribbon cup, which would come later).

"Masquerain, let's go!"

* * *

"Excuse me, oh pardon me, sorry, excuse me…"

May made her way to the middle of section G, where her family and friends were watching the competition. After Drew had left her backstage, she didn't want to stay there. She was hyperaware that it was probably her last few moments in the back stage area of the Grand Festival, but she just couldn't find it in herself to remain there, around all the other coordinators who were smarter and better than she was.

There was also the possibility of seeing Harley again, or facing the disappointment from Drew when he returned from his turn. It was overwhelming, and she couldn't face it. She just wanted her real friends, her little brother and her mom. So she left.

When she finally sat down beside them, they had all tried to cheer her up.

"You and Skitty were awesome, May!" Ash had commented.

"You really found a way to pull it all together in the end," Brock congratulated her.

"Either way, May, we're all proud of ya!" Max assured her.

But she knew that they knew she was basically done. With a score as low as she'd received, and only 32 coordinators moving on, May's Grand Festival run had most definitely come to a close. It felt like a stab in the heart.

She quietly thanked her friends, gave them a weak smile and hurried to take the open seat next to her mother. Caroline, meanwhile, just grabbed May's hand and squeezed it tightly.

When Drew calmly walked onto the stage, smiling confidently and slightly raising his hand to the crowd. And May felt sadness in her heart that she didn't quite understand.

She looked onto the face of this boy, whom she'd known since her first day of coordinating, who'd insulted her, and who'd made her feel inferior almost every time they'd met.

 _Almost_.

There were times when it wasn't bad with Drew. He could definitely be confusing, but not always bad. There was the roses he gave her, which she never really understood the meaning behind, but always appreciated nonetheless. And they were always the deepest red and thorn less; they were perfect, just like he seemed to be.

And of course, there was their time spent on Mirage Island. He kept her alive from the first minute they were placed in danger. She gave everything she had to save him, and he turned around and did the same for her when she was taken.

This boy, walking on stage and ready to begin…he was an enigma. He was stubborn and critical and harsh and way too cocky. But he was also caring and charming and all around sweet when he wanted to be.

In the beginning, May wasn't sure what to think of him. And at that moment, she still wasn't. All she was certain of was that she felt a sense of loss, like he wasn't going to be in her life anymore. Not after everything that had happened.

With the way she had acted during the contest, and the terrible rookie mistakes she had made, why would Drew ever want to associate with someone as low as her? He was a contest god, destined to accomplish great things. She was nowhere near his level, and severely doubted she ever could be.

But…was it really about her?

"Hidden power!" Drew commanded, with total authority and absolute certainty.

Masquerain summoned dozens of white glowing orbs. The balls of light competed against the sun, and the combined light sources made Masquerain's wings glow in a rainbow fashion May didn't even know was possible. The appeal was showcasing just how beautiful Masquerain really was.

May's eyes went wide, and something clicked in her head. The point that Drew had been trying to teach her all along.

No one in the stadium was watching Drew. All eyes were on his Masquerain, and that brilliant display of power it was giving off.

Coordinating wasn't about her own time in the spotlight. As a coordinator, May's only role was to show off how incredible her Pokémon were. That was what Drew did, and that was the key to his success. He was a professional at displaying to the world who his Pokémon were, what they could do and how well they could do it.

And as that rainbow light faded, May's eyes slowly fell back to Drew, who clearly made sure to stand behind his Pokémon.

That was it; that's what Pokémon coordinating was, at its purest core.

It was the Pokémon.

No amount of compliments May could receive about herself would ever matter. It mattered what people would say about her team. Finding a way to bring out her Pokémon's inner beauty and showing that on a stage was what she needed to accomplish.

Drew raised his hand and opened his fist; clearly the sign Masquerain had been waiting for. The bug Pokémon released its hidden power, the orbs all exploding and creating a shower of sparkles that spread throughout the massive stadium.

"Great job! Now let's show them bubble!"

Masquerain complied, fluttering low to the ground and dispersing a trail bubbles everywhere it went. Before May knew it, the entire floor of the arena was covering in the clear bubbles.

Her mother and her companions beside her were all in awe, as she was as well, but May stayed quiet. All of the revelations happening in her head were a bit overwhelming.

She realized she was capable of this level of showmanship. She realized she could achieve this much art with her Pokémon. If only she had listened to Drew's advice earlier. If only she had known Harley was after petty revenge.

"Silver wind!"

May twitched when she heard him call for silver wind; a move she thought of as her own.

And she watched as Drew pulled it off even better than she ever could have, because it wasn't his, but his Pokémon's. Masquerain rippled off bands of glowing silver, sending the army of bubbles marching across the entire arena just as the fragments of hidden power had done. The powerful blast slammed into the ground a few feet in front of where Drew was standing, but he didn't even flinch as he trusted his Pokémon completely.

The combination of shimmering specks, bubbles and silver wind's light caused the bubbles to shine like diamonds as they flew throughout and out of the stadium.

It was a sight beyond compare. It was the most beautiful appeal May had ever seen.

And it was eye-opening to her.

She, along with everyone else, rose to his or her feet. Though while everyone screamed and cheered, she remained wordless.

In that moment, she was sure she wasn't going to advance, but she was sure she needed to show Drew she understood what he'd been saying all along.

She couldn't let him walk out of her life.

She needed him more than she ever realized.

* * *

A perfect score.

With the way his Masquerain had executed every attack perfectly, he wasn't surprised to see the 100 light up the scoreboard. But he felt happier than he ever had.

Drew was the first coordinator to ever score a 100 in a Grand Festival appeal.

He bowed a few times to the crowd, thanking them silently for their applause.

His Masquerain landed gently on his shoulder, and not even Drew Hayden could contain his excitement.

"You did it, Masquerain," he whispered rapidly to his partner as the crowd screamed. "You were beyond perfect. I would have given you a 101, but being the first Pokémon to ever score top marks in a Grand Festival? You deserve this, buddy. I'm so proud of you."

Masquerain chirped happily and cuddled into the side of Drew's face, and Drew just laughed and waved to the crowd as he exited the stage.

"Whatever Pokéblock you want tonight, it's yours," he promised his Pokémon before returning it to his Pokémon.

Drew made his way back to the waiting room floating on cloud nine. He kept his face composed as he walked past all of the other coordinators, looking at him in fear or knowing there was no way they were going to win because he was there.

At the back of the room stood a lone, empty bench, and Drew claimed it for himself. He sat down slowly, and exhaled for what felt like the first time in days.

He hadn't thought of May once since he walked away from her.

It was such a relief.

* * *

Not even a full 10 minutes after Drew had become the first coordinator to score a 100 in a Grand Festival, the coordinator Robert had achieved the same feat.

Drew had felt so great for such a short period of time, that when he watched Robert's performance, he bit the inside of his cheek.

This was not over. Not by a long shot.

The names of 32 advancing coordinators were about to be revealed. Then, the battle rounds would commence. Drew would have to make it through several of those coordinators to get to his ribbon cup. And watching Robert's performance, Drew had a very strong sense that he and Robert were going to face off again.

Robert was the first one to defeat Drew in a contest this season. In this exact same city, this powerhouse coordinator had come out of nowhere and taken Drew's first ribbon away from him.

But that was months ago; a full season ago; a lifetime ago.

Drew and his Pokémon had only grown since the loss. He and his team were ready for the rematch.

Drew and his Pokémon were ready for the Ribbon Cup.

* * *

"Now let's see who is going through and who is not!"

Everyone in the waiting room (minus Drew) tensed at Vivian's announcement. May squeezed her mother's hand more tightly, feeling cold in the hot summer sun. Harley, who had since left the stadium and was drinking a soda in the café down the block paused in his sipping.

"On the big board, the following 32 coordinators have made it and will compete on the second stage! Good luck to you all and congratulations to the next round of winners."

One by one, the faces of the top 32 appeared.

Drew felt a little anxiety with the fact that Robert's face appeared number one before his own, but reassured himself that they were tied, having scored the same amount of points. There were some gasps going around the waiting room, but mostly silence.

Out in the crowd, May kept her hands clasped tightly, praying to Arceus that her face would pop up. There were a few comments thrown around from the audience around her, mostly about coordinators people were happy to see advance, as their appeals had been marvelous. Harley's face popped up on the list and May shivered, but there had been no doubt he was going to advance with his score of 89.

The rows slowly filled up with the faces of the top scorers, and May's small bit of hope was fading away to nothing as the last row of faces began to appear.

Then, a miracle: at number 32, her own picture appeared. She blinked a few times, thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, but as her friends jumped to their feet and cheered, it dawned on May that she had made it. She had somehow, actually made it.

Despite what happened, May was moving on to the battle rounds.

"I'M IN!" she squealed, tears streaming down her face as her friends and mother enveloped her in a crushing, congratulatory hug.

"Congratulations!" her mother kissed her forehead and hugged her just a little bit tighter than everyone else.

"You did it; awesome!" Max cheered.

"Yeah, now just remember to stay focused!" Ash reminded her.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu smiled from Ash's lap.

"You'll be great!" Brock agreed.

"Thanks, you guys," May whispered, then turned back to look at her face on the board. "I'm not gonna let this chance to go waste!"

* * *

Diet soda sprayed all over the TV screen.

With the appearance of May's face on the small screen at his table, Harley was thrown into an outrage.

"WHAT?!" he shrieked. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! HOW?!"

Harley threw money down on the table and exited immediately, furious at the fact that somehow, May had gotten through.

* * *

Drew had mixed feelings about May's advancement.

He had previously decided that he was done with her, but apparently the universe wasn't done with sticking her in his life. Sticking her where she didn't belong.

May did not deserve to go on. Drew knew that she was hoping to go on, but if it were up to him, he probably wouldn't have put her face on that board.

Well, sometimes things didn't happen the way that they should. She'd be knocked out in the battle rounds before she met him on the stage.

* * *

May was freaking out again.

Not because she'd actually made it, but because she was going to battle Harley in the first round battle.

She had to have the worst luck in the world. Running into him and letting him cause all the trouble he had already caused was bad enough. But now she was going to have to battle him and beat him to keep advancing.

Having battled him before, May knew Harley was a tough opponent. And he'd no doubt only gotten better since she defeated him in Purika Town.

But she wouldn't let him shake her. Not again. He'd caused her enough grief and May knew better now.

She would not let him win. Not again.

* * *

It was bright and early in Slateport City…4:37 a.m. to be exact.

May's Pokémon were all dozing peacefully in her dorm room. She was wide awake on her bed, though. She'd been tossing and turning all night, barely getting any sleep. A million thoughts raged in her mind like a warm of angry Beedrill.

She was nervous, excited, angry and scared all at once.

She would be the first one to acknowledge that her making it into the second round was nothing short of a miracle, but having to face Harley first thing in the morning was something she was both and fearful excited about.

Harley clearly wanted her out of the way. He went above and beyond to try to get her eliminated, but she'd managed to squeeze by. And that definitely infuriated him. So there was little to no doubt that he was going to give her the match of her life the next morning.

On top of that, May hardly had any experience in double battles. Outside of the practice she'd had with Harley the day before, she really didn't know how she could coordinate two Pokémon at the same time.

She stopped herself. She needed to breathe.

Her lack of confidence in herself and her Pokémon was what got her into trouble in the first place.

If she was going to beat Harley (which she already had in the past), she needed to do exactly what Drew had told her to. Believe in herself, and above all, believe in her team. To make the calls she knew was right.

 _Drew…  
_  
She wondered what he was doing at that moment – probably sleeping like normal people were. But she wondered what he thought when he saw that she had made it through to the next round, or if he'd even noticed at all.

The boy had scored a perfect 100; she doubted he'd even wasted his time noticing that she had advanced.

Somehow, she had to prove to him she was better than she had been.

She now knew it was about her Pokémon, but something inside told her this went beyond them.

Something whispered to her that Drew was somehow at the heart of this.

* * *

 _May vs. Harley.  
_  
It was a match he honestly didn't see coming.

Well, he didn't even see her getting through coming, but this matchup seemed like it was destined to happen.

When the matchup first appeared on the screen, he felt himself gasp.

If Drew was being honest, he really wanted to be the one to battle Harley in the first round. Not for revenge or anything of that sort; May had made her choices and needed to deal with the consequences on her own. But Drew definitely wanted to be the one to teach Harley what true, honest coordinating was. And what it looked like when a coordinator relied on his Pokémon's talent rather than cheap tricks and cruel manipulation.

But then again, maybe it needed to be May. Maybe she deserved to be the one to take Harley down.

She had done it once and she could do it again.

If Harley actually did come out on top of May in this battle, Drew knew it would only be a matter of time before they met in a battle of their own.

Either way, one strange fact persisted.

Drew knew he'd be cheering for May.

Something he thought he wasn't going to do again.

* * *

It was sinfully early by the time May decided sleep wasn't going to happen and she rolled out of bed in the morning.

The night before, she had decided that she was going to use Bulbsaur and Beautifly in her first battle. Maybe getting a little last minute practice with the concept of double battling would benefit her. She would take any advantage she could have.

Still, getting up at 5:45 a.m. wasn't something May was used to, and she decided coffee was definitely going to be needed to get her through the morning (and probably most of the day).

Not a big coffee drinker, May had a few caffeinated coffees she could tolerate. The secret was making sure the coffee didn't actually taste like coffee.

The cafeteria downstairs had coffee available 24/7 to coordinators, and May made her way down the stairs while tying her bandana securely in place.

As expected, the lobby was completely empty. The sun had barely begun to peak out over the horizon, after all. If it wasn't for the fact that her only other option was to lay awake and torture herself with her rampant thoughts, May would have curled up back in bed and shut the world out for a few more hours. Her battle wasn't scheduled until 10:30 a.m.

She was confident the cafeteria was going to be empty, too, so she strolled in slowly, stretching her arms above her head and trying to mentally convince herself this being awake so early thing was a good idea.

She wasn't paying attention at all when she crashed…into a table.

Chairs and saltshakers went spilling over and she grabbed for the corner of the surface to steady herself. She wobbled over and barely made it without falling over herself, and was thankful that she hadn't fallen flat on her face. How would it look to go into the Grand Festival's third day with a black eye from the dorm building's cafeteria? How would she have even explained that?

She sighed; she really was the only human who could trip over flat surfaces.

Only when she was upright and stable did she noticed that _he_ of all people was watching her. Her face lit up and felt hotter than Combusken's fire spin.

Emerald eyes were locked on her shaky frame as she slowly rose and tried to maintain whatever dignity she had left.

He hadn't said a word; just quietly studied her to make sure she wasn't hurt from her stumble and slowly began stirring his coffee again when she more or less seemed okay.

Drew had gotten up early with the same intentions that May had; some last minute training. But Drew had always been an early riser, and never had pictured May to be one as well. So when she first walked into the cafeteria, he was more or less surprised. Most people weren't up and around before 6 a.m.

Then he noticed her rubbing her eyes and barely paying attention, like she was still half asleep and not totally functional yet. He saw that she had yet to notice him, and followed her trail as she walked straight into a table and tipped over the chairs in her path. He hadn't laughed, though. Most people might have found it funny; Drew Hayden wasn't most people.

May also stayed completely silent as she rearranged the chairs she'd toppled over and stood the saltshaker back up correctly. Part of her wanted to turn and walk out. The other part of her wanted to brush it off and show him she was tougher than he thought she was.

Why oh why did the day have to start out like this?

Finally, after an endless walk of shame, she made it over to the coffee bar, where she kept her eyes focused solely on the coffee pot she was reaching for.

"You're up early," he surprised her by saying.

Drew even surprised himself with the comment. He had no intention of talking to her…and yet it would have felt unnatural had he not said a word to her.

After all, he was the one who had made the coffee, and it was entirely too hot to drink. He might as well try to be casual while he waited for his drink to cool down.

"I- yeah, so are you," she said back, a little hesitant.

"I'm always up early," he clarified.

"I figured," May attempted. "You seem like a person who'd be up before the sun rises."

"And you don't," he said. "What are you doing?"

"I couldn't really sleep," she admitted. "Figured I might as well get up and go practice a little before my battle."

"Your battle against Harley," he pointed out.

May pursed her lips while reaching for the sugar.

"Yeah," was all she said.

Drew watched her for a moment; she was giving off a weird vibe. He had seen May nervous before, but this was something different. She wasn't nervous about the contest or the battle; he could read that much off her body language alone. But the way she seemed to keep a careful distance from him; the way she reached for the sugar packets farther away from her on her right just so she wouldn't have to reach closer to him on the left…

She was nervous to be near him.

And he sighed. He really shouldn't have cared as much. He told himself he shouldn't have cared as much. Yet, it bothered him. For whatever reason, it bothered him.

"Eh, you can take him," Drew said, backing away and pulling out a chair at one of the tables.

He took a seat, though it was not what he'd originally intended. He only wanted to grab a coffee and go, but something kept him there.

May watched him take a seat and looked at the empty one across from him, then back to him. She was silently checking if it was okay, to which he just rolled his eyes and took a sip of his drink. She smiled lightly, grabbed another handful of creamers and sugar packets and made her way to sit at the same table.

May began assembling her array of additives and pouring them into her cup one at a time, stirring, and repeating. She used every single packet that she'd grabbed before she finally tried a single, small sip, and grabbed for two more packets in the middle of the table.

Drew almost scoffed; she could have very well been Solidad's long lost sister with the amount of doctoring she did to her coffee.

"You know, that much sugar isn't good for you," Drew threw out, taking another sip.

"Yeah, well, I don't know how you can enjoy…black coffee," she said, peaking up into his cup and refocusing on her own. "It's so bitter and it doesn't taste good."

"I guess to each their own," he commented. "I disagree with your choices but…do what you want, Maple."

"I will," said suddenly, looking up to him with something unsettling in her eyes; something serious and burning.

He gulped quietly.

"I am gonna do what I think is right from now on, Drew," she told him honestly. "I won't let anyone tell me what to do and I'll believe in…my ability to make drinkable coffee."

He stared at her for a moment, understanding her main point. She didn't need to say that she was done with Harley out loud for him to know.

"That's good," he said. "Even if your coffee isn't."

"You probably just haven't tried it," she smiled a little, stuck out her tongue at him and took a sip.

He nodded, and checked his watch for the time.

It was just past six, and he needed to get up and outside. By the end of the day, he was going to be holding a ribbon cup.

May seemed to be serious enough in what she was saying, but he wondered if she would actually pull it off. Words and actions were two very separate things, both miles apart. And with May…well, he just never knew how things would turn out.

"Well, I'm out," he said, standing slowly and pushing his chair in. "Good luck in your battles today, assuming there's more than one."

"Yeah, you too," she bid him, as she remained seated and watched him start to walk away.

"Hey, May?" he paused at the door.

She looked up to him, and their eyes met.

"There better be more than one."

With that, the door swished behind him, and he made his way out into the woods behind the arena for some last minute training.

* * *

Five minutes, double Pokémon per trainer, one winner.

That was how battle rounds in the Grand Festival worked. A coordinator had to show that they were capable of guiding two Pokémon gracefully through a battle at the same time better than everyone else to earn the title of Top Coordinator.

So far that morning, three battles had taken place.

Three intense battles, that sent three people forward and three people packing. The herd was thinning, and as the day went on, the coordinating season was drawing to a close and getting closer to its champion. Of course there was speculation that Drew or Robert was going to take it all, but there was always the potential for a wild card.

Every remaining coordinator stayed backstage, watching the battles on the screen, not daring to miss a single second of their potential opponents' strategies and Pokémon. At this point in the game, every move was critical.

And May was hyperaware of just how much was on the line when she first stepped up to her side of the stage, facing Harley down for the first time since he's walked out on her.

His smile was dark and intimidating, but May used all her power to glare right back at him, telling him she wasn't backing down.

Meanwhile, Drew sat as close to the monitor as possible, his eyes locked on the screen. His concentration was so great, the room could have been on fire and he wouldn't have noticed. He had been waiting for this battle all night. He wanted to watch May wipe that smile off of Harley's face.

"Bulbasaur, Beautifly, take the stage!" May called out her Pokémon, both emerging from their Pokéballs with fierce expressions.

May must have given them a major pep talk earlier that morning, because both of those Pokémon looked very ready to get the battle underway. May, on the other hand, looked more like herself than she had all Festival long. That famous fire was burning in her eyes, and she looked like she was twitching for the buzzer to ring off.

Out came Harley's Cacturne and Banette, and before anyone knew it, the heated battle was underway.

Harley hadn't let two seconds fall off the close before he called for his Banette to use screech; a whail so painfully loud, it threw off May, her Pokémon and almost the whole stadium. Drew could even hear the loud noises leaking through the walls of the waiting room. Being in the direct path as May was, Drew could only imagine how miserable it must have been.

With her team partially immobilized, Harley went for a combination.

Just as relentless as it had been in his first appeal, Harley sowed off just how powerful his Cacturne's bullet seed was. The seeds pelted Bulbasaur and Beautifly, and May's points began to fall.

May needed a moment to collect herself, then had her Bulbasaur fire off a vine whip which Cacturne and Banette could not avoid. Still on a rush, May ordered for her signature silver wind, which landed a direct blow thanks to her vine whip. Just like he had done to her, May took out a chunk of Harley's points with her clever combination.

But May wasn't done just yet; Bulbasaur tossed its captives in the air and launched off another silver wind. The gusts from Beautifly's silver wind spun her opponents around even faster, dazing Harley's Pokémon in the process. It was a great twist of irony to see that the very move Harley tried to use against May was now working so harshly against him.

But the battle was far from over.

May foolishly assumed she could pull off the same combination twice, and Harley took the opportunity to shut off Bulbasaur's vine whip with his Banette's torment attack. Bulbasaur shyly retreated from the ghost Pokémon's harassment, and May found herself momentarily at a loss for a new strategy.

And Harley dove right back on the offensive.

A pin missile attack was heading straight for May's team, when May cleverly coordinated a quick escape for her two Pokémon. Bulbasaur hopped onto Beautifly's back, and the butterfly Pokémon flew up with ease, demonstrating how strong she was. The pin missiles clearly missed their targets, but the will-o-wisp launched right after didn't. Bulbasaur and Beautifly were hit midair, and May's points lowered again.

Just when it seemed things were going south, May used her Bulbasaur's petal dance as a defense. Hundreds of pink petals caught the blue flames in mid air and caused them to burst, raining shimmering bits of petals all around the arena. The audience cheered as the battle continued to heat up.

Meanwhile, Drew was noticing something backstage. He'd been watching May every time he saw her on screen, and he realized this fight wasn't about revenge for her. She clearly could care less about getting back at Harley for the shit he tried to pull.

To her, this battle was a redemption, not for her, but for her Pokémon. Every move she pulled wasn't to strike her opponent down, but rather, she was showing off her Pokémon in the ways she hadn't before; in the ways a coordinator would. The way she had used silver wind to combat Harley was the icing on the cake.

And Drew smirked, because even though the fight wasn't over, it was clear May was going to come out on top. She was finally fighting in the ways that she should have, and it excited him. Suddenly all of those visions of he and her on that main stage, battling it out came back, all the stronger.

She closed out the heated battle with an unexpected combination of silver wind and razor leaf; two attacks that complimented each other in multiple ways. The forces of her final combination proved to be too much, and Harley's Pokémon went down as did the remainder of his points.

And Harley was absolutely losing it.

In the middle of the stage and in front of all of those people, Harley was losing it. He was going crazy, shouting things in disbelief that he'd lost the match he was so sure he would win.

And Drew was extremely satisfied.

Though initially, he'd wanted to battle Harley he realized it was May who needed to put him in his place. Drew could be offended about the insults Harley had done to coordinating, but May was the one who needed to prove she wouldn't be a victim.

And prove that, she had.

Harley angrily exited the arena , fuming; most of the coordinators could hear his grunts and complaints as he marched to the waiting area to gather his things.

Suddenly, in that moment, Drew just happened to need to walk down the hall. No particular destination, as his battle wasn't for another six matches, but a stroll down the hall seemed like a nice thing to take at that time. Really, he just wanted to see Harley's disappointment firsthand.

Harley was scowling as he walked by.

"I'm sure that you're happy I lost, aren't you?" Harley demanded, making Drew stop in his tracks.

There were a thousand things Drew could have said in that moment to answer that question. There were dozens of explicative that could have rolled off of his tongue and he could have put Harley in his place with every single one of them, but Drew knew Harley and the type of person he was. He thrived off the energy of others. He found joy in getting a rise out of people's emotions. And Drew knew exactly how to burn Harley more than anyone else could in those moments.

"Not true," Drew said calmly. "May was just better today."

It worked. Harley was grinding his teeth so hard that Drew could hear it with his back turned and a few feet away.

"Well at least I can be honest about it," Harley spit back, seething. "I will enjoy watching _both_ of you lose."

With that final remark, Harley continued walking on, ignoring every person's existence he passed by. Drew turned back to look at him for a second before laughing to himself.

 _That guy is a real piece of work.  
_

* * *

His first battle felt as though it was too easy.

And his second as well.

Drew made quick work of both his opponents in both rounds. Roselia's magical leaf and Masquerain's bubble beam just seemed to be unstoppable.

In his first match, Drew went up against a girl named Haley. She must have been intimidated to face him, because she seemed to have almost ne nerve throughout the battle. She made questionable calls and often tried to regroup several times throughout the battle, but couldn't keep herself composed long enough.

It was a shame, too, because with her Elekid and Camerupt, she should have had a huge advantage. Drew had been looking forward to a great battle when she first summoned her Pokémon, but his Masquerain's bubble beam made quick work of "Camy," as she called her volcano Pokémon. And Elekid stood no chance against Roselia's magical leaf defense.

Before three minutes had fallen, she'd lost all her points, her Pokémon had been knocked out, and Drew hadn't sustained so much as a single scratch. The battle felt over before it had begun.

The second match was a bit more promising.

Drew faced off against a coordinator named Steven, who seemed to not be bothered by Drew or his reputation.

Drew was also impressed by Steven's Koffing and Lunatone, both whom had been raised very well. Drew stuck with Roselia and Masquerain, waiting for the perfect match to debut his secret weapon.

In the beginning, Steven started hard, using a thick smoke screen from his Koffing to hide his Pokémon and land a series of sneak attacks thanks to Lunatone's cosmic power.

But Steven's problem was that he was going for the knock-out rather than the showmanship. Cosmic power was way more appealing at night or in the dark, anyway.

Drew made quick work of the Lunatone after he used Roselia's petal dance to purify the air. A few well-timed magical leaf attacks was all it took to defeat the gas-type Pokémon.

Lunatone took a little more work, but Drew eventually broke it down when Masquerain combined ice beam with bubble beam. The combinations Drew pulled kept his points intact, and depleted his opponents. The match ended with 48 seconds left; Drew was moving on to the quarterfinals.

Amazingly, so was May.

She barely managed to defeat her opponent, Anthony.

His Pinsir and Swalot turned out to be an admirable team, and May struggled to counter Swalot's amazing swallow ability. The poison Pokémon's expandable body made sure it took very little damage with every strike May's Pokémon made, and worked to also shield Anthony's Pinsir.

The problem with Anothy's strategy was, nothing his Pokémon did was very graceful. Swallow was a smart technique to use in regular battles, but in contest battles, it looked a bit more off-putting. May, meanwhile, had managed to keep her team's movements steady and appealing, thus resulting in the conservation of her points.

It was how she won the match, and how her name was put into the pool of quarterfinalists. The same pool that Drew's name had gone into just one match before her own.

Watching May battle throughout the competition so far with new resolve had slowly restored Drew's faith in her. Every move she called, every second of the battle, she showed just how much she had improved, not just over the course of the weekend, but over the course of the season. She was taking everything she learned so far and applying it with her ability to think on her feet. An effective combination for sure.

As he watched all her matches from backstage, he realized she now knew what he had been telling her. She knew that this was about her Pokémon, and she was fighting with only them in mind.

She was finally acting like the great coordinator she could be.

And it excited him to see her perform.

May's battle signified the end of the second battle round, and given an hour long intermission, coordinators were allowed to run to the Pokémon centers to prepare their teams for the next upcoming battles.

But Drew stayed behind; he knew his team was still ready to go having taken almost no damage in their first two battles, and he wanted to know who he'd be up against in the third round as soon as possible.

Somehow, though, he knew it would be her. Like they were fated to meet on that battlefield in the third round. Like the universe wanted them to face off in the Grand Festival, and the time had finally come.

When their faces lit up on the same bracket, his heart did a flip.

The battle he'd wanted for so long; the battle he'd dreamed about…it was finally about to go down.

He was finally going to meet his rival on the main stage in the Grand Festival.

* * *

They kept their eyes locked on each other as they entered the arena from opposite sides.

Emerald vs. sapphire; just the intensity of their eyes alone was a great battle. And it was a private moment, only between them. It was electric, and it gave Drew a rush as he slowly kept his pace.

Drew kept a small, relaxed smile on his face and waved to some of the members of the crowd, while May looked somewhat tense for the upcoming battle, but she still smiled and waved to the crowd, too.

His thoughts were racing just as much as his pulse was. She looked so beautiful, so in her element as she entered the arena across from him. What Pokémon would she use? What strategies would she come up with to counter his own? Was she as on edge as he was? Did she realize just how important this moment was to him? Was it important to her?

Her thoughts were also running rampant as she drew closer and closer to the stage; closer and closer to him. She was so nervous to battle against him, despite how well she'd done so far in the battle rounds. But this was Drew; she knew he already had every attack planned out. Every twist and turn their battle would take, Drew had probably already envisioned it, because he was that good. He was a coordinator who was very capable of taking home the ribbon cup. And she knew that. Still, she would give it her all, no matter what; she just prayed she didn't look as nervous as she felt, throwing waves and smiles to the crowd.

After what felt like an eternity for both of them, they'd taken their places on each respective side of the battlefield. He looked over to her, and noticed May looked like she was anticipating the fight of her life. He was going to give her that, and more. And he hoped she'd do the same for him.

All of the months of meeting at random intervals in different cities; every time he'd watched her perform and improve bit by bit; and they day they'd held on to each other for dear life on that Arceus-forsaken island…it all led them to this. This one, powerful moment, where they both stood across from each other, ready to take each other on.

"The next battle on the third stage will be Drew vs. May!" Vivian called out to the crowd.

The deafening cheers that radiated from the stands seemed almost mute to Drew as he looked May directly in her eyes.

 _I'm ready; are you, May?_

 _Bring it on, Drew._

He smirked, flipped his fair, and waited for the call.

Vivian nodded to both of them, signaling that it was time to release their Pokémon. Drew held his breath and watched with excited eyes to see who she'd summon.

"Let's go!" she cheered. "Skitty, Combusken, take the stage!"

Her faithful starter and rambunctious kitten Pokémon appeared before her, look at him with expressions just as fired up as hers had been. It was an intriguing team up for him, and he knew he didn't have time to ponder what she potentially had planned.

"Roselia, Flygon, let's go!" he called as soon as her team was set.

There was his first partner, along with his newest one. The two of them had trained long and hard hours to prepare for this battle. His Flygon basked in the sun as it appeared in its first time on a stage. He looked back to Drew for a second and screeched, indicating he was excited for his first battle ever. Drew smirked back at him and nodded, before his eyes fell back on May.

She was surprised, to say the least. The look of shock and trepidation on her face was exactly what he'd pictured every time he'd imagined this moment.

The crowd responded equally as surprised with random gasps and roars of excitement. The famous Drew Hayden's newest Pokémon, competing for the first time, had the whole stadium going insane.

"Looks like you brought long a new friend, huh?" May asked, her eyes traveling up and down every inch of Drew's newest ally.

"I raised this Flygon specifically for this Festival and this battle, May," he surprised himself by admitting.

He hadn't ever planned on revealing that to anyone, but especially not her. Her eyes went a little wide at his confession, but instead of feeling any for of regret, he found he felt totally comfortable, because talking to her was easy. Talking to her had always been easy. And he appreciated the mix of shock and appreciation her eyes held for a few moments.

"You get to face it in its very first appearance," he informed her.

Her surprise faded, and it was slowly replaced by a look of flattery and determination.

"Then I guess we better make it a pretty memorable one, right" she smiled back at him.

He smirked and nodded, and she returned the gesture. They were ready.

"Here we go! Let the battle begin!"

* * *

They were so in sync, with their Pokémon and with each other.

For every attack, there was a counter, and another counter, and another. The whole battle felt like a dance; a perfectly choreographed dance.

And it was thrilling beyond compare, for both of them.

The second the battle began, Drew called out for the first attack. His Roselia shot out that petal dance the duo was so widely known for, and he sent Flygon barreling towards May's Pokémon in the midst of it. It was a powerful charge with a delicate backdrop; a combination that had the audience on their feet before the battle had even truly begun.

With a quick command of assist, and a lucky pull of fire spin, Roselia's petals were soon all aflame, but the attack did little to stop Flygon as he continued his speedy dash towards Combusken and Skitty.

"Combusken, sky uppercut!"

"Dodge it, now!"

Both Pokémon followed their orders, but Flygon clearly had greater speed than Combusken. It easily swooshed out of the way, and Combusken's momentum failed to accomplish anything except crush Skitty on the ground. Both of May's Pokémon stayed on the ground for a few moments, dazed from their impact.

"Get up!" May pleaded. "Get up, guys!"

Her eyes rose, trying to get sight of Flygon who'd soared in the path of the sun, as Drew had trained him to do. Keeping low visibility gave them a huge advantage, and May had to shield her eyes from the harsh light.

It was all part of Drew's plan, and it all flowed so smoothly. Drew was a master of open stage formats in battles; he used the entire arena and the elements to aid his Pokémon and gain an advantage. Being able to utilize the sun with his new flying type was just one of the many strategies he'd come up with for this battle.

It also helped that he knew just how May would react to the assault. He made sure the obvious choice for Combusken would be a sky uppercut, because he knew his Flygon could dodge. And he'd ripped a huge chunk of May's points without even landing a hit.

So far, so good.

Just because May's Pokémon needed a moment to collect themselves didn't mean he would stop, either. The battle wasn't on hold, and he wouldn't hold back.

"Flygon, flamethrower! And Roselia, use your solar beam!"

Two devastating attacks, with added power thanks to the harsh sunlight; Drew was even a little surprised at just how much power he Pokémon produced. Flygon's flamethrower was so hot, he swore the crowd could feel it, and Roselia's solar beam fired off instantly, thanks to the outdoor arena.

The two powerful attacks were racing with blinding speed towards May's Pokémon, still down on the ground after a heavy collision with each other. There was no time to dodge, and she knew it.

He had this in the bag.

But then…

"Fire spin, Combusken!" she cried.

Combusken more than complied, summoning his own powerful vortex of fire. And amazingly, it halted both of Drew's attacks before they could land their hits. He watched with wide eyes as May didn't relent.

"That's it; now drive it backwards!" she continued.

Her Pokémon managed to push back the powerful double attack, most incredibly by itself. It used its own flames to dispel both the attacks, and broke the remaining flames surrounding both himself and May's Skitty. It finished its defense in a pose that said it was ready to continue, daring Drew to make the next move.

When the attacks settled down, Drew's Pokémon landed back by his side, and Drew's points plummeted from not completing the massive double attack. May surged back into the lead, looking positively rapturous.

And he smiled; he was proud of her.

"Well done, May," he whispered, mostly to himself.

But the battle wasn't over; not by a long shot.

This time, May took the lead, calling for Combusken to repeat its fire spin. Another powerful tornado of fire shot towards his team, but Drew had planned for this long before the battle had begun.

"Flygon, use sandstorm, now!"

A vortex of sand and dust swept up by Flygon's powerful wings stopped Combusken's attack. When May saw that wasn't going to work, she tried a new approach.

"Skitty, use blizzard of Roselia!"

"Dodge that and climb on Flygon!"

His famous flower-powered starter leapt out of the way of the oncoming icy winds and landed atop Flygon's back. With two missed attack in a row, and Drew's quick thinking and stylish dodges, May's points took a huge hit, and fell drastically.

Still riding a top Flygon, Roselia made sure to stay off the ground and out of any direct harm's way.

May realized that the only way she could win this was to stop Drew's ground and dragon type. It was a feat that would take a miracle, as Vivian had just called the one-minute warning.

Drew's Pokémon seemed to want to capitalize on the lack of time left, because they made sure to stay high up where May's Pokémon couldn't touch them.

Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Skitty, use assist!"

It was May's only shot and she knew it. She had put her faith in her Skitty's random ability before, and it had paid off. Now she would have to trust in it again. True, it was a gamble, but Drew had been teaching her all weekend that she needed to have faith in her partners. And it was a leap of faith for sure, but if anything, it was better than shooting off a bunch of attacks and missing the target, depleting her points down to nothing.

She had faith; she was confident her Skitty could produce something useful.

And it did: Bulbasaur's vine whip shot out from Skitty's paw.

With the incoming vines, Drew's Pokémon separated instantly, both pushing off of each other to give one another additional momentum to move out of the way. With the two of them effectively separated, May knew it was time to act, while the entire stadium wrongfully assumed May's attack had failed. Even Drew figured the attack was a loss, but May had an idea before Drew could truly process what was happening.

 _Perfect.  
_  
"Vine whip? Good, that'll work!"

 _Wait, what?_

"Combusken, use jump!"

 _What is she doing?_

"Now, Skitty, give Combusken some help!"

 _What is this?  
_  
Combusken perched itself on Skitty's vine, and braced itself. On May's mark, Skitty launched Combusken high up into the air, giving it the height it needed to get up to Flygon.

Then, Drew understood.

"Okay, I get it now," Drew said out loud. "Magical leaf defense, Roselia!"

Roselia's glowing leaves shot towards the airborne Combusken, but May was already anticipating the move.

"Now, Skitty, blizzard!" she commanded.

He could have kicked himself for forgetting May's other Pokémon so suddenly, and watched in horror as his Flygon's only defense was stopped. Combusken was in the clear to land a direct hit, and not even the great Drew Hayden could counter quickly enough.

"Flygon, flamethrower, now!" he called desperately.

"Just what I was hoping you'd do!" May informed him.

He took a step back and watched as May's Combusken aimed directly for the flames hurdling towards it.

"Combusken, dive right inside those flames!" she commanded.

Combusken, a fire type, would take little to no damage with a direct hit from a fire-based move. Drew really did want to kick himself then, as he realized there was no stopping what was coming next.

May's Combusken took the flamethrower directly, and lost no speed as it continued its charge up directly at Flygon.

"Now, Combusken, sky uppercut!" May shouted, throwing in a corny hand gesture he couldn't find it in himself to insult in the moment.

Combusken's fist connected with Flygon's face, and Drew's powerhouse Pokémon was sent falling to the ground by May's own powerhouse Pokémon.

May's Pokémon landed gracefully in front of her and she praised them, while Drew's Pokémon took their places before him silently.

"Awesome job, you two!" May told her team.

A quick check of the scoreboard showed Drew he still had a strong lead over May, and there was only 30 seconds left in the match.

"It's all right, guys, we got this," Drew reassured them confidently. "Just keep it up and we'll win for sure!"

He took a second to look back over to May, and she looked right back at him. Same as before the match had begun, they both held each other's eyes and they were both smiling.

Everything about this battle was what Drew had been wanting for so long; the fast-paced, never-relenting action of it all. He could feel his fingers twitching with the anticipation of her next move. He could feel himself breathing hard as his heart rate increased from the adrenaline.

And he hoped she felt the same way. The battle had been rousing, stirring, moving intoxicating, dynamic, thrilling and just a plethora of great things. It was everything a battle between rivals should have been.

An incredible battle between two heated rivals.

"Combusken, quick attack!" May exclaimed. "Skitty, tackle!"

He snapped out of his thoughts when he realized May was making a move. He assumed she would be shooting for the win by knocking out his two Pokémon with so little time left. A bold strategy for sure, but it wasn't going to work.

When the two oncoming Pokémon were in close enough range, Drew fired off his defense.

"Use stun spore, Roselia!"

The paralyzing power produced from Roselia's buds proved to be just what Drew needed. Once in the air, it stopped Combusken and Skitty almost instantly. May looked instantly disappointed in herself, like she didn't believe how she didn't remember Roselia's stunning attack.

"Oh no…" she gasped.

But Drew wasn't stopping there; with just a few seconds left on the clock, he wanted the final blow to be as flashy as possible.

"Flygon, now, hit 'em with steel wing!" he ordered.

Lightning fast, Drew's Flygon barrel rolled towards its targets, landing two direct hits at the same time with each wing. May's Pokémon were sent flying back to her.

They fell at her feet just as the clock ran out.

May had lost all of her points, while Drew had maintained close to half of his own.

Vivian announced Drew as the winner and the crowd roared. He assumed that the battle had been just as enjoyable to watch just much as it had been to be a part of.

He smirked and raised a fist in victory to the audience, both he and his Pokémon thanking them.

And then his eyes fell to his opponent, who looked so lost and dejected, like the weight of it all was crashing down on her. She was done; her first Grand Festival had ended, and she was no longer competing for the Ribbon Cup she had so desperately fought for.

The thousands of fans screaming his name probably didn't help, either. She had been so determined, and it was the most progress she'd ever made in a fight against him. She even held the lead for a few precious moments, and he knew it must have been huge for her.

But still, looking back at her season, and how far she had come, he couldn't help but be impressed by all her progress. That first contest he'd ever seen her compete in, right here in this exact city, it was one disaster after another. And the first time he'd battled her on a contest stage, she hadn't even landed one hit on him. Looking up at the scoreboard now, she'd managed to take more than half of his points away; she had proved to be the most fierce opponent he'd faced in the Grand Festival so far.

And he was so thankful to have faced the challenge she brought to him.

She made the competition more fun than it had been, and he admired her efforts far more than any other coordinator he'd ever faced.

She'd come so far, and seeing her so down on herself and so damn sad on the stage across from him when she didn't deserve to feel that way.

When she looked up to him, he smiled at her, and shook his head, hoping she'd understand that she didn't need to feel depressed by her loss. She made it farther than even he'd expected her to in her first Grand Festival. The quarterfinals were absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

Slowly, her eyes morphed into something; maybe understanding, and her mouth twisted up into a small smile.

She fell to her knees, next to her downcast Pokémon. They seemed upset, like they had failed, and like they had let their trainer down in the worst way possible. May just reached out for them, and pulled them in close. She whispered something to them that Drew couldn't hear, but whatever she said, it seemed to do little to improve their mood.

It was a touching exchange, and it didn't go unnoticed by the crowd. They suddenly started to chant her name, and her eyes sparkled.

"Now there's something you don't see everyday," Vivian smiled brightly. "The crowd is cheering and showing its appreciation for May and the terrific performance she put on."

As the shock finally seemed to dissipate from her expression, May and her two Pokémon stood up and bowed in respect while smiling bigger and brighter than Drew had ever seen.

After a few minutes, the contest officials realized the excitement wasn't going to die down any time soon, and May and Drew were ushered off stage back to their exits on opposite sides of the arena.

It was a shame; he had been hoping to have a word or two with her.

He had wanted to congratulate her on her tough fought battle and an impressive Grand Festival run despite her shaky start. But he still had two battles to go himself before he could get his ribbon cup, and he figured it might be better to focus on that.

If only he could calm himself down from the adrenaline rush still rushing through him.

He only hoped his final two battles would be as glorious.

* * *

There were 30 seconds left in the Grand Festival.

There were 30 seconds until someone would be crowned Top Coordinator and would be declared the winner of the Ribbon Cup.

And with just 30 seconds left, Drew realized there was no chance in hell he was going to emerge victorious.

He stared his final opponent, Robert, down from his position on the stage, his battered Flygon and Masquerain barely able to stand before him. Robert's Milotic and Claydol, meanwhile, seemed hardly phased by the grueling battle that had been ensuing.

Well, it seemed grueling, but perhaps that was just from Drew's side of things.

Robert's Pokémon were impossibly tough; aside from his elegance and constant poise, he seemed more like a trainer who would fit well in the Elite Four rather than in contests. Drew could not recall ever having faced such strong Pokémon in any contest battle, ever. He doubted even Solidad could stand a chance against him.

When Drew and Robert had taken the stage for their final battle, Drew had realized he'd hardly been paying any attention to Robert throughout the whole Festival. He'd been so preoccupied by other things, he failed to study his last opponent enough, despite having lost to him in the first contest of the season.

Though Drew had gotten tougher since that loss, so had Robert. Robert had grown indescribably stronger. So much stronger that it was almost frightening.

Again, why wasn't this guy in the Elite Four…?

Drew had hoped that having two flying Pokémon would help him avoid any big hits Robert might dish out, but his hypothesis had proved incorrect. Miltoic and Claydol's attacks were too mighty and too fast for even Flygon and his speed to dodge.

Honestly, the battle was over before it had even begun, and Drew was coming to realize that as the clock hit 25 seconds.

But he had still given it his all, because his Pokémon deserved his very best as they had been giving theirs.

It wasn't enough, though. He wasn't enough. He wasn't going to be Hoenn's next Top Coordinator. The realization hit him like a hyper punch to the stomach.

During the battle, Drew had pulled off some minor hits and counters, and he had taken away a few of Robert's points. The dent in his own points, though, was too grave. Robert had been ruthless since the countdown started and he instantly called for his Milotic to use aqua ring and Claydol to combine it with ancient power.

There were infinite ways Drew could have started this battle off differently.

Maybe he should have used Roselia instead of Flygon. That would have given him two type advantages over Robert's Pokémon instead of just one, not that even having one seemed to be working at all. But Flygon had performed so beautifully and with such enthusiasm in its debut fight against May. The Pokémon had more than proved to Drew that he was made for contest battles. Drew figured Flygon would have been a safe bet. But it wasn't Flygon's fault they were losing.

Maybe if he had tried different combinations. Bubble beam and sandstorm seemed like they could have had a lot of potential working together. But Robert's Pokémon made dodging any attack seem easy, no matter how fast or hard they came in at him.

And there was the fact that Robert's Pokémon had excellent counter moves to stop Drew's hits in their tracks. But it wasn't Drew's combination attempts that were at fault for their losing status.

Overall, in the heat of the moment, when the clock hit 21 seconds, Drew remembered Solidad's advice to him way before the start of the competition. Her words seemed so far away, like she had said them a lifetime ago. And now, here, in the final, fatal seconds, they rang louder in Drew's mind than they had when she'd first said them.

 _"There's always someone better."_

Drew was _not_ that someone better in this match.

"Twister, Milotic, go!" Robert ordered easily.

The commanding water type used its tail to whip up a vortex heading straight for Drew's exhausted Pokémon.

And all Drew felt like he could do was watch: watch the end as it came spiraling towards them.

"Here it comes," he whispered to his team and mostly to himself.

* * *

She found the battle hard to watch, because she couldn't even imagine how awful it must have been for him.

After her loss, May had packed her things in the locker room and retreated to the company of her friends and family. Though she really hadn't been feeling too down after her loss – at least, not as much as she expected to be – she appreciated their warm smiles and genuine compliments upon finding them in their seats.

"You were terrific, May," Max had been the first to notice her and say. "Really, you've never been better. Way to go!"

"I agree, you were outstanding," Brock added. "It really shows how well you've raised your Pokémon."

"That was one of the most incredible battles I've ever seen!" Ash praised. "You got us all so fired up just from watching!"

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu commented.

"Really, May, I have never been more proud of you, dear," Caroline cooed. "I'm sure your father would say the same thing if he were here. And no matter what, you're a winner to us."

"Thanks everyone, it means so much to me," she told them. "My Pokémon really gave it their all and that's all I could ask for."

She took her place beside her mother again and stayed with them to watch the remaining battles.

The coordinator, Robert, was absolutely terrifying. May was almost glad she didn't have to face him. After watching him defeat one of the quarterfinalists with such relative ease, she realized if anyone was going to stop Drew from winning the Grand Festival, it could be him.

Drew's other battle seemed to go fairly easy as well. Somehow, it wasn't nearly as intense as her own battle with him. Drew's Roselia and Masquerain seemed to make quick work of the opposing Granbull and Vileplume.

And the look Drew had held in his eyes when he finally advanced to the final stage was one that seemed unstoppable. He was so close to winning it all, and he knew he was. It was like nothing could bring him down off the high he was on.

Until he came face to face with Robert, and the final match had begun.

May didn't think it was even possible for Drew to get as flustered as he seemed throughout the match. He struggled to compete with Robert's two Pokémon, who seemed to be an unstoppable amount of force and strength.

It was hard to watch Drew's Pokémon take such forceful hits, and even harder to watch as the light slowly faded from Drew's eyes as the battle went on.

She was cheering for him.

Every time he managed a counter or landed a hit, May would shout words of encouragement out to him, even though there was no way he could hear her.

 _"Yeah, that's the way!"_

"Great job, Masquerain!"

"You're doing just fine!"

There were tons of fans rooting for Drew all throughout the plaza, but she hoped her words meant something a little bit more.

Especially since they seemed to be ineffective.

No matter what she yelled, or no matter what Drew tried, it all seemed like it was in vain. Drew kept losing points, and Robert maintained almost complete control of the entire battle.

And she didn't know why, but her heart was utterly broken for Drew when the clock hit its final 30-second mark.

* * *

Claydol came out of nowhere.

Well, it came out of Milotic's twister attack, but it surprised Drew and his team at how quickly it vanished and reappeared right before them.

"LOOK OUT!" Drew screamed.

Drew had never screamed in a contest before. He had never lost his composure before. And he had never, ever imagined that this would be how it would have ended.

"Now hyper beam."

Robert's Claydol shot off two separate but equally deadly hyper beams. Both hit Masquerain and Flygon straight on, and Robert didn't stop with that.

"Milotic, iron tail."

With that final blow, Drew's Pokémon fell to his feet, both fainted.

"Flygon, no…" he barely spoke. "Masquerain…"

At that moment, the clock his zero, as did Drew's points.

It was all over, Hoenn's contest circuit had its newest champion, and it wasn't him.

Drew did not win the Grand Festival.

His eyes slowly lifted off the ground, up to the video board displaying a picture that was not his own, but rather his opponent's, with the word "winner" pasted underneath it. He had to blink a few times, as if he might see his own face up there. But it never came.

Vivian announced that Robert had won, and Drew looked all around him slightly dazed. Robert and his Pokémon all bowed in sync, and all Drew could do was look on.

"That was good…" he admitted to himself, at a loss for anything else to say.

He silently returned his defeated Pokémon, met and shook Robert's hand in the middle of the stage, bowed to Robert's Pokémon, and made his ay back to the locker room.

"The presentation of the Ribbon Cup will follow shortly pending a short intermission!" Vivian declared. "But let's hear it one more time for these two incredible coordinators and the fabulous battle they just put on!"

He knew the crowd was cheering. Drew knew that the sound in the stadium was louder than it had been all Festival long. But he could barely hear anything. All the noise around him sounded muffled, like he was hearing it underwater.

And the normally confident Drew Hayden kept his eyes down on the ground the walk back to the locker room.

He had no idea both May and Robert had been watching him the whole time.

* * *

He called out Roselia first.

The second he got to the privacy of the empty backstage area, he pulled out her Pokéball and released her.

She appeared with a huge smile on her face, her eyes wide and looking all around. But after a few seconds, her face began to fall into confusion, and she finally turned to face Drew who was looking back at her calmly, no emotions on her face. She stared at him for a moment, unsure of what was happening.

"Roselia?"

 _What's wrong?_

He smiled sadly at her then, leaning forward on the bench and propping his elbows on his knees.

"I'm sorry, Roselia…" he began. "But we didn't win."

She looked up to him even more confused. Her head tilted and she placed on of her hands over his own.

"Masquerain and Flygon gave it their best, and you should have seen them," he continued, not really looking at his first partner as she looked at him. "They were great, Roselia; they were so great. They were the best I've ever seen them. I just wasn't good enough this round."

She still said nothing and he sighed, leaning back and pulling his hands back, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his other two Pokéballs. Out came a beaten up Flygon and Masqeurain, and Roselia quickly looked over to them and asked them if they were all right in their own language. Both of the Pokémon agreed that they were fine, but seemed utterly depressed.

"Listen, guys," Drew addressed all three of them, and they looked back to him. "It's not your fault, it's mine, and I'm honestly so proud of all of you for getting us this far. You're the best partners I could ever ask to work with, and I hope you're not all too disappointed with me."

With his statement, all his Pokémon began to protest. They all swarmed him up close, telling him that he hadn't failed them in any possible way. Flygon was especially persistent, feeling majorly responsible for the way his trainer was feeling. Drew had trusted him in the final battle and he hadn't worked hard enough. They shouldn't have lost to that other coordinator, no matter how tough he and his Pokémon were; they should have been better.

A few moments passed, and Drew's Pokémon all stopped talking and looked away from. He quirked an eyebrow and followed their gazes to the very coordinator who had just beaten him, watching him and his Pokémon.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Robert greeted the four pairs of eyes staring at him.

Drew's Pokémon stayed quiet, watching him as he advanced in the room, and Drew rose to meet him as he approached.

"It's okay," he said, not understanding why Robert was there.

"I just wanted to come and congratulate you on your many victories in this Festival," Robert clarified with a smile, sensing Drew's confusion. "You and you're Pokémon performed brilliantly from start to finish, and I was worried when I found out I'd be facing you in the final match."

Drew raised his eyebrows.

" _You_ were worried about battling _me?_ " Drew asked.

"Yes, quite so," Robert laughed a little. "As I said, you and your Pokémon were formidable throughout the whole competition. And our battle was exhilarating. I wanted to thank you that, and, if I may…"

Robert then turned to Drew's Pokémon.

"Flygon, Masquerain, you were both wonderful! Your combinations and attacks were beautiful and you're both truly spectacular performers. And you must be Drew's Roselia…I watched you in the earlier portions on the contest, and I must say, you are the definition of elegance. Your petal dance is without compare."

Drew appreciated his words for his Pokémon, and they seemed to have the same reaction. Roselia nodded respectfully and Masquerain chirped happily. Flygon seemed a bit more reserved, but didn't appear to have any negative reactions. Then again, Drew wouldn't have expected any different; if any of his Pokémon were going to take the loss hardest, it would have surely been Flygon.

"Young man, you have built quite the team here," Robert said, turning back to Drew. "You must be very proud."

"I am, thank you," Drew accepted, nodding.

"It's almost time to go back out there," Robert mentioned. "But I wanted to be sure to tell you that you are one of the most talented young coordinators I have ever had the privilege of facing. I thought so during our first battle so many months ago and I still think so to this day. If anything, I believe it more than ever, now.

"I have always followed your career, and admired the work that you've done. Believe it or not, some of your previous performances have actually inspired some of the combinations of my own. Your creativity astounds me, and at such a young age! But I digress…

"My point in saying all this is, you are very gifted, and I hope you recognize that and continue to work hard. I have no doubts that you will become one of the greatest coordinators in all of history. Please promise me today's loss will not deter you one bit from continuing on the path you and your Pokémon are traversing."

"No, of course not," Drew reassured him. "We've come too close to give up now. And there's always next season, right?"

"Yes, next season is one I'm looking forward to greatly," Robert nodded.

Again, Drew became confused.

"But Robert, you just won," he said. "And you have plans to compete next season, too?"

"Absolutely!" Robert laughed. "I plan on continuing until I'm too old to do this anymore!"

"So…what are your plans for after this?" Drew questioned.

"Well, of course I'm needed at the final ceremony, but afterwards, I plan on going off with my Pokémon and training a bit."

"Wow," Drew pursed his lips. "That's pretty intense."

"Indeed, but it's why we love what we do; the thrill of it all, and the nonstop nature of coordinating," Robert responded. "Our art is ever-evolving, and in my experience, coordinators must always be prepared for new curves."

"Yeah," Drew nodded. "Yeah."

Robert smiled brightly at Drew, and looked back to the door.

"I imagine we'll need to go back out there now," he informed Drew. "But I meant what I said, and I hope you take it to heart. You are meant for this lifestyle; it suits you well, and I shall enjoy continuing to follow your career as you flourish."

"Thank you, Robert," Drew said. "The same goes for you. So I guess I'll see you in Hoenn's circuit again next year?"

"Unfortunately, I have decided to go to the Sinnoh region," Robert shrugged. "I think my Pokémon and I would fair well in super contests; don't you?"

Drew laughed, remembering Solidad's disdain for the super contests while she had traveled in the region. Robert definitely seemed like he would enjoy them more. It was an interesting concept, though: competing in a new region. Drew had only ever known the Hoenn Contest Circuit.

"Absolutely," Drew nodded, still smiling.

"Regardless, I wish you all the luck in the world during the next season, Drew Hayden," Robert said. "I expect many great things from you. I do suppose we need to go now, though."

"Probably," Drew nodded, recalling his Pokémon.

The two coordinators walked back down the hall, heading towards the main stage where Robert would be officially introduced as a Top Coordinator and given his Ribbon Cup.

"I suspect we'll battle again someday, should our journeys meet," Robert commented.

"I hope you know that next time, I plan on beating you," Drew said back.

"I don't doubt it one bit."

* * *

"Drew!"

With the massive sea of coordinators on stage, he was surprised she managed to find him. Then again, Solidad had once told him his hair stuck out in a crowd. Maybe that was the trick.

"Hey, Drew!"

He turned his head to see May running towards him, her hand waving at him high in the air. Her friend – the coordinator he recognized as Anthony from earlier in the competition – was running behind her.

"There you are," she said with excited eyes as she finally got to him, huffing a little. "I was worried I'd miss you!"

"Here I am," he said, smirking. "Lucky you."

She smirked right back at him, not afraid to meet him in the eyes. The two stayed looking at each other wordlessly for a few moments, waiting for the other to say something and worried about interrupting.

Anthony finally caught up to the two coordinators and noticed the moment they were having.

He wordlessly stepped to the side, not wanting to interrupt.

* * *

Confetti rained down, loud victory music blared and Vivian led the closing ceremony.

Robert gratefully accepted the Ribbon Cup from Mr. Contesta, and made a small speech about how honored he was to have been a part of such an amazing season in Hoenn.

May hadn't said anything before the closing proceedings began, and the two had to break their wordless gaze at each other to pay attention to the end of the Grand Festival. Both had been smiling when they turned away, and May was blushing intensely.

At one point, she leaned over to him.

"I'm sorry you didn't win, Drew," she told him sweetly.

He turned back over to look at her one more time. Her eyes were shining and she had the most sincere smile he'd ever seen on any person ever. So many emotions were displayed on her face. But above all, he could see that she was so proud of him for everything he'd accomplished.

And she meant it all, from the bottom of her heart, and she didn't need to say anything. He knew she wanted the best for him.

And he knew that he wanted the best for her.

He broke into a gentle smile facing her and nodded.

"I guess there's always someone better," he shrugged, quoting Solidad.

"And one day, I'll be that someone better," May elbowed him playfully. "Next time we battle, I'll win."

"Hah, right."

* * *

He wouldn't dare be caught at the after party; not when he had other, important matters.

Like training for next season.

He was worried when he first pitched the idea to his team.

" _Guys, how about some training?" he had asked the second the stepped out of the stadium._

To his elation, his Pokémon were more than happy to get back to work right away. When he asked who wanted to go first, Flygon instantly raised a wing.

That was how they found themselves on the beach under the moonlight, hours after they'd begun. The sounds of the after party drifted in the air behind him as he called for Masquerain to attempt another dodge.

Roselia fired off her magical leaf towards the water-bug Pokémon up in the air, and Masqeurain managed to glide through the air smoothly before a few leaves managed to clip its wings. Masquerain went down into the sand, and shook itself off quickly.

"Masquerain, with your speed, you should have been able to dodge," he said easily, to let his Pokémon know he wasn't disappointed.

With the long day his Pokémon had experienced, he was just thankful they were still willing to train.

"Drew?" a voice questioned.

With all the noise in the background, he was surprised he didn't recognize her sooner, but he wasn't surprised at all when he saw May walking towards him. She had a habit of finding him when he wasn't paying attention.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked when she approached him.

"Training, of course," he informed her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She seemed a bit taken back; after all, the season was done. Shouldn't he be taking a break from it all?

"But, how come you're not at the party?" she pushed further.

"Robert's off training, too," Drew offered. "That's why he's not at the party, either."

His answer effectively stunned her. She gasped and looked like she didn't believe him. As if he'd ever not be serious about anything contest-related. Drew hardly joked, but he definitely never joked about contests.

"Why's Robert practicing?" she inquired. "He just won first place."

"That's right, he did, and how do you suppose he got good enough to win?" Drew challenged. "You always have to keep trying to get better or someone will pass you by."

He looked at her then, implying that his statement, and the reason he was out there, it was her. Drew knew May was constantly improving; she'd more than proved that over the course of the weekend, and especially during their battle. He refused to let her surpass him; he'd always work to stay one step ahead of her, and he hoped that she'd do the same for him.

Whether she got it or not, though, he couldn't tell. She seemed to be pondering his words, though, and in that moment that was good enough for him.

"I guess I never thought of that…" she admitted.

"I'm still determined to become a top coordinator someday," he suddenly said. "Hey, I'm already thinking about attacks I might want to use in next year's Festival."

She smiled then, and nodded slightly.

There, in the soft moonlight, she beamed for him. He could tell she wanted to see him achieve his dreams, and that she was also determined to stay a part of his journey as well. But there was more; he could also see the apologies in her eyes. She was sorry for all the drama she had caused over the weekend and she was grateful he was still by her side despite it all.

A soft breeze swept her hair out of her face, and he looked at her. The way her eyes shinned, it reminded him of the moments he'd first really looked at her, way back on Mirage Island. When he'd realized just how beautiful she was, both inside and out. There were so many things about this girl he was drawn to, from the way she was completely optimistic in the face of every adversary she faced to the way she put her heart and soul into competing.

His heart felt as though it was flips inside of his chest when he noticed just how close she was to him. His eyes, on their own accord, fell to her lips for a brief moment, but he forced them back up to her eyes.

"Wow," she told him. "That's good."

"I'm hoping to see you back here next year, too, May," he admitted, turning from her somewhat shyly.

She gasped softly at his confession; it had been one of the nicest moments they'd ever shared, and she hadn't expected it when she first approached him on the beach. Drew hadn't expected it to happen, either.

He always felt different when he was near her, in private, intimate moments like this. He felt warm and like it was safe to say anything and he didn't need to be afraid of her judgment. He respected her in the same ways he respected Solidad, but with May, there was just…something more. There were those feelings he still hadn't fully figured out the extent of.

But maybe then wasn't the best time. It was late, his Pokémon were likely exhausted, and Drew wasn't anywhere near prepared enough for whatever their conversation could morph into should it continue.

He felt the need to leave; a part of him wanted to stay, but he just wasn't ready. Not yet.

Still, he could honest as he walked away.

"You were good," he told her, walking down the beach towards his hotel. "Take care."

His two Pokémon followed him, Roselia looking up at him somewhat disappointed that he'd chosen that moment to end the conversation. He just smiled down at her and shook his head.

"It's late, guys," he said, knotting his fingers behind his head and looking up at the moon. "Let's turn it in and get right back to it first thing tomorrow morning. The season's a few months away, but it'll be here before you know it."

His Pokémon both agreed with him, even though Roselia refused to let it go. She looked back and saw May still watching them as they walked down the beach away from her.

Drew didn't turn around, but he swore he could feel her staring at him the whole time.

Even when he wasn't on the beach anymore and definitely far away from her, he swore he still felt like she was there.

* * *

It was late when he got back to his room.

He checked his PokéNav he'd left in the room to charge and the time read almost midnight. He also noticed he had several new messages that he would check after he was done with his nightly rituals. Placing the PokéNav back on the small table next to his bed, he made his way to the bathroom while Roselia and Masquerain settled themselves on their bed next to his own.

He left Flygon in his Pokéball for the night, not wanting to wake it up, as he was pretty confident Flygon had fallen asleep already.

Drew brought a fresh change of clothes into the bathroom and took a quick shower. Once his body felt clean, he could final feel his exhaustion catching up to him. He grabbed his toothbrush, mouthwash and dental floss out of his toiletry back and cleaned his teeth properly before deeming himself finally ready for bed.

Stepping out of the bathroom, he noticed the soft snores emanating from Roselia and Masquerain on their side of the room. He smiled softly to his two Pokémon, and wordlessly thanked them again for all their hard work at the Grand Festival.

They may not have won, but Robert's words of wisdom gave him a good feeling about the next season. He knew he and his Pokémon would work even harder together to take home the title, and he also knew they could only get better and better if they kept up their hard work.

He also looked forward to the day he'd compete against May again; how she would have grown and the new things she would come up with through her training. And he remembered how she'd looked just before he'd walked away from her. So delicate, her soft features hiding her inner passion and competitive nature that she could fire up when she needed to. She had never been more beautiful to him, and she had never been more inspiring.

At the end of the day, facing the loss was extremely tough, but with so much to look forward to, he found he wasn't too bothered by it.

Reaching over to the table lamp, he shut off the lights and tucked himself under the soft sheets of his temporary bed for the night. And he finally reached for his PokéNav and pulled up the messages he'd been ignoring.

They were mostly from Solidad, unsurprisingly. He also received a few notifications informing him his name was mentioned in news publications, but he promptly ignored those. He really hated media attention, good or bad.

The messages from Solidad were all short and seemingly ambiguous.

" _I just got back."_

"I'm super proud of you."

" _You really were so great."_

" _I'm going to bed."_

" _Call me tomorrow, OK?"  
_  
Drew frowned at the messages. He'd been expecting Solidad to text him when she got back home to Kanto, but he had been expecting more than the short messages he'd received. None of her texts seemed to hold her always-peppy cheerfulness. It was strange to him, but it was probably just because she was tired from all the work she'd been doing at the Wallace Cup Convention.

And, she said he should call her the next day. He wanted to, and was going to for sure, because he had so much to tell her and so much to catch up on.

Tomorrow.

He'd call Solidad tomorrow.


	14. Hot Chocolate

**Hot Chocolate** – In which Drew and Solidad catch up, some big things happen and they look towards the future.

 **Author's notes:  
** \- First and foremost, I know I suck and this has taken me eons to update. Adult life post-college graduation has been pretty hectic. Also, happy 2018! Wishing you all the best year full of health and happiness.  
\- A lot of people have been asking me if I plan to take this story to the Kanto region, and to follow those episodes and go beyond. The answer is yes: that was always the plan and I apologize if that wasn't made clear earlier. I'm hoping that once I can get through those chapters, because we all know how terrible I am with updates, I want to continue the story through (and possibly beyond) the Kanto Circuit. But please know that not many episodes feature Drew in Kanto, so this second half of this story might be shorter than the first. I'll do my best with it.  
\- Oh, also, fun fact: I just had a major surgery last week, and I'm a slightly MAJORLY medicated, so if this chapter sucks more than most, at least I somewhat have an excuse this time. (I'm totally good, by the way; surgery went well and now I'm just healing.) But that surgery is why I've had time to sit down and write these next few chapters.  
\- You guys should know the drill with these drink chapters by now. No episodes transcribed, lots of conversation, blah blah blah…  
\- Reviews are schwifty (bonus points if you get it, which you should).  
\- Hot Chocolate: a hot drink made with milk or water and chocolate or powdered chocolate.

* * *

Initially when he woke up, Drew's first thought was training.

Hoenn's Contest Circuit would begin anew in approximately three months, and though a majority of coordinators were taking a break having just finished the last season one day prior, he knew the best of the best were already back at it.

Robert was one of the ones he knew was already training.

Robert, the man who had won the entire Grand Festival and become the world's newest top coordinator didn't take a day off, and that's how he got to where he was.

Drew was determined and destined to get to that point as well.

It didn't take long for Drew to determine that he didn't want to stay in Slateport. He'd felt like he'd lived through a lifetime of events after the long weekend in the city, and staying in the city he'd faced endless drama paired with a hard loss wasn't the most appealing idea. He was more than ready to get out and go somewhere else.

The first thing he did was got breakfast for he and his team. His Pokémon happily munched on their organic mix while Drew chewed on his omelet and went over their plans to travel back to Lilycove City. He was happy to see that his Pokémon were eager to get back to practicing despite having completed a whole contest season not even 24 hours prior.

With his coffee in a to-go cup and his PokéNav in his back pocket, he set out for Lillycove City. It was a good distance away from Slateport, and it would give him and his Pokémon the chance to get a little exercise in while traveling. After all, healthy Pokémon were the best one Pokémon in competitions.

But Lilycove was a long ways away, and he had more than one day's worth of travel to get there.

He thought about a lot of things that day as he walked.

The most prominent thing he noticed was how quiet the walk was...and how he couldn't seem to stop thinking of one simple fact.

He lost.

He faced defeat; he'd been beaten; he wasn't the best; he didn't win. No matter how many ways his brain tried to reword the statement, it was the truth. He had lost the Grand Festival, and it was eating away at him.

Maybe it was the air of defeat lingering around him. He thought he could make peace with his crushing loss, but the fact of the matter was, that's what it was: crushing. Heartbreakingly, soul smashingly, entire-existence-obliteratingly crushing. Drew's loss hurt - more than he expected it to - mainly because he hadn't ever prepared himself to face even the possibility of losing. Especially after he'd gone so far. He'd come in second place. He'd fallen so astoundingly short of his goal that it was just…

It was crushing.

His eyes occasionally wandered down (or in Flygon and Masquerain's cases, above) to peak at his partners by his side. They seemed to be basking in the warm glow of Hoenn's notorious heat and the near-perfect day. How they could be so content and optimistic, Drew didn't understand.

The flashbacks from just one day ago were so painfully vivid. Drew, standing on the battlefield, watching that fatal hyper beam attack dutifully end his run towards Hoenn's Ribbon Cup and his title of Top Coordinator. He could still picture the clouds of dust rising from Masquerain and Flygon as they hit the ground. He could hear the sounds of the judges' eliminating he and his team, as well as the crowd's deafening screams for their new champion.

Their new champion that wasn't him.

Was he embarrassed about losing? Absolutely not. He and his team did everything they could to the best of their abilities and they had given the performance of their lifetimes. Honestly, how could he be any prouder of the effort his partners had given to him and for him? And how in the world Drew was going to top his last season was beyond him. Inspiration would come along the way as it always did, sure, but it was a tough concept to grasp: outdoing himself in what he considered to be a great season.

Had he peaked? Had Drew reached his ultimate effort and talent in coordinating and still not been good enough? He wasn't sure, but he was disgusted by the treacherous thought and refused to entertain it.

He wasn't done; not by a long shot.

* * *

It was just past two in the afternoon when they had reached Lavaridge Town.

Lingering in the shadow of Mt. Chimney, Drew had only intended to stop there for a late lunch, but soon changed his mind when he found some inspiration in the town's famous hot springs and spas. He hadn't spent much time in Lavaridge Town previously, as the town hosted no contest halls, meaning Drew hadn't had a real reason to ever spend time there. But now, with his Pokémon already pushing them selves before the next season even started, he knew they deserved a relaxing day at the spas. And they seemed just as interested as he was.

And that was when it dawned on his; was it fair to ask his team to start working again so soon? Not even a full day after the contest season had ended, he wanted them to go back to work. Even worse; he's been training just hours after the festival had ended! What was He thinking, pushing his Pokémon like that? They didn't deserve it.

"What do you guys say we spend a day or two here?" he offered to his team.

They all responded by giving him confused looks. He had asked just a day before if they wanted to practice and prepare for the next season. They'd all agreed, because not only did they want to win just as badly as he did, but more than anything, Drew's Pokémon loved him. They loved him for all he had done for them, and always wanted to repay him by giving him their 100 percent devotion to performing. He deserved it. So when he flipped just a few hours after asking them if they were ready to get to work, they needed some explanation.

"You guys, the season just ended," Drew explained. "All of us worked really hard to get to where we got to. And it was thanks to all of your efforts. Roselia and Masquerain really outdid themselves in all of our regular season performances, and you, Flygon, trained to reach an evolution for me, and then instantly went into the biggest contest of our careers. None of you can even try to pretend like you're not exhausted.

"The thing is, the season isn't starting for a while. And we all deserve a day or two to relax. Let's start fresh; go into training with a clear head and some rested bodies. After all, we probably won't make it very far if we're exhausted going into the next season, right?"

His Pokémon reluctantly agreed at first, but once her started telling them about the world-renowned Pokémon spas they'd get to stay in, they seemed to be more open to the idea. And maybe Drew was right; even though they felt like they'd let him down, maybe they had earned a little bit of a break.

At any rate, Drew seemed persistent, and the whole team settled on staying in Lavaridge Town for a few days before setting out to take on the Hoenn Contest Circuit again.

The first thing he did was checked his team into the must luxurious Pokémon-exclusive spa and daycare offered in the entire town, possibly in the whole world. The facility featured a workout center, grooming stations, specialized feeding areas with every type of Pokémon food from organic to sweet Pokébeans imported from the Alola region, access to natural in-house hot springs and much, much more. Drew signed them all up for two whole days. He hated to lose the training time but he owed this to his partners and they deserved it.

Second, he texted Solidad. He'd meant to do so all morning, but ended up being distracted by his endless thoughts of the Grand Festival and wondering what the future held for him. His message was brief but to the point.

 _I'm going to stay in Lavaridge Town for a few days. Roselia, Flygon and Masquerain are getting some well deserved relaxation ahead of next season. What time should I call you?_

The second he'd hit send, he'd figured he had a few hours to kill. After all, he and Solidad rarely talked earlier than 7 p.m., and it was barely three o'clock.

He strolled through the streets of Lavaridge Town, hands in pockets and avoiding people's stares. A few people gasped as he walked past them, probably recognizing who he was. He made sure to keep his head down; he didn't dare speak to anyone when he still had so much on his mind or risk alerting the press he'd successfully avoided post his loss at the Grand Festival.

Walking past the town's office of tourism, Drew stopped and began looking over brochures of the area, more out of boredom than actual interest. There were dozens of various pamphlets on the racks, each advertising his options for killing time. He figured he might as well do something until he'd call Solidad.

 _Visit the Lavaridge Town Museum to learn all about how Mt. Chimney is vital to life in Hoenn! Learn all about our volcano's important functions, including everything from its roll in Fallarbor's agriculture to powering our town's natural hot springs! Admission is 8$ per adult, 4$ per child free for seniors and free for everyone on Wednesdays—_

Stressed? Need a break? Lavaridge's premiere spa, Ridge Springs has everything you and your Pokémon need to soak the stress away! Come soak in our mineral enriched natural hot spring pools, located right next to the town Pokémon Center—

 _Ancient Ruins Expedition! Sign up for a guided tour through the Hoenn sands of the Route 111 desert with our local ruins expert, Dusty—_

 _Lava Flow Bakery: the region's best know confectionary capitol! Come taste our expertly-made fresh breads and cakes (made from scratch every single day) and of course, our world famous Lava Cookies—_

One by one, he read over the covers of the little folded brochures, each failing to capture his attention. Truth be told, he'd rather be in a contest hall, preparing for the next season, but that wasn't going to happen. He knew his options consisted of picking one of these touristy things to do, and he sighed and continues looking.

 _Souvenirs! Gifts! Decorations! Glass arts by Mr. Ash! Travel north up Route 113 to discover Hoenn's unique glass items. Lying in the shadow of Mt. Chimney and under a constant cloud produced by the volcano itself, collect the ashes you find on the ground and bring them on in for a one-of-a-kind experience—_

 _Heads up, Pokémon trainers! Step up and take on Hoenn's hottest gym leader! Flannery is here to fire it up and her team of fire Pokémon will burn you up! You'll have to defeat her if you want to make it to the Pokémon League, so turn up the heat—_

 _Enjoy a soak in out mud baths—_

 _Try the best spicy food in—_

 _Beat Lavaridge's heat with our homemade ice cream—_

Each pamphlet was more boring than the last. Drew wasn't a tourist by any means; most of the time, he was all work and no play. Solidad had gotten on him about more than a few times, but that's just who he was. He didn't have time to deviate from him normal habits nor did he want to. And as he read on and on, the more bored he got by all of the options.

Until he picked out a pamphlet on the fifth row…

 _Want to check out Mt. Chimney up close and personal? Want to see and have the chance to catch some fire-type Pokémon? Now's your chance. Come ride our brand new cable car up to the top of the Hoenn Hot Spot and hike down the infamous Jagged Pass for your chance to find rare Pokémon you can't see anywhere else!_

Drew found that he was somewhat interested in what this particular brochure was promising, so he picked up the stiff folded paper and opened it up to read more. Unfolded, the inside of the pamphlet presented a huge map of the volcano and a steep hike down its side, various bullet points explaining the points of interest.

 _Sponsored by the Lavaridge Chamber of Commerce, you'll ride our totally free and safe state-of-the-art cable car. Riders will be brought straight up to the summit of Mt. Chimney, where scientists and guides are waiting to answer questions and ensure your safety when approaching the magma crater._

 _Once you've had enough heat, you'll have the option to ride the car back down, or begin a challenging hike down the side of Mt. Chimney, on a path formed by the volcano's last eruption over 1,000 years ago. This trail offers trainers and people alike the chance to view and maybe even capture a few rare fire-type Pokémon._

 _This exciting trip is not for the faint of heart. All adventurers welcome! The cable car rides daily at 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 p.m., and final ride at 4 p.m.! Located east of Lavaridge Town on Route 112._

Now that, he could see himself doing. Was it touristy? A little bit. But the chance to find some fire-type Pokémon for his team was definitely worth checking out. What better way to start a season than with a brand new Pokémon on his team?

Somewhere deep in his brain, he could hear Solidad's voice telling him he needed to take a break and that the season had ended and he should rest up like his Pokémon and blah, blah, blah… but this might prove to be an opportunity worth taking.

Screw off-time; his Pokémon deserved it, but he didn't. After all they had done to get to him to the Grand Festival and for him to lose it for them…it was unforgivable, and he would work every day to make it right for them, and for himself.

The clock on his PokéNav told him it was almost 3:10, giving him plenty of time to make it to the cable car station outside of town and catch the last lift of the day. So he grabbed the little flyer and started making his way outside of town.

* * *

"We ask that you please stay seated through the duration of your car ride and we hope that you enjoy the volcano!"

The hostess began ushering Drew's riding companions onto the car one at a time. He held back, trying to avoid anyone in the small crowd. Not many people were going on the tour. Autumn was just around the corner in Hoenn and most children were already back in school; vacation time was over. When he finally took a seat inside, he found only six other people were aboard as well.

He checked his PokéNav one last time before boarding the craft as he had been warned he wouldn't have very great reception at the top of down the hiking path. Four o'clock exactly, and still no text from Solidad. She must have been pretty busy that day if she hadn't texted him back by that point. She wasn't a person who lived on her phone, but she also wasn't someone to leave a text unanswered. He was sure she'd send him a message or give him a call when she could, but he didn't want her worrying if he couldn't respond. She tended to do that sometimes.

 _I'm going to check out Mt. Chimney for a few hours. Probably won't have service, so just let me know when you want me to call you and I'll get to it when I get back._

His text was sent and his PokéNav was placed back into its usual place so he could step onto the car.

The seatbelt lights came on and everyone clicked in. The automatic doors shut slowly and locked, and the engine could be heard coming to life. With one sudden jerk, the cable car slowly began its trek up the mountain.

Drew kept his eyes forward, not wanting to meet the eyes of anyone in the car who could potentially recognize him. He'd been extremely lucky so far since the Grand Festival had ended not to bring attention to himself, but it wasn't thanks to great effort. The people in the car seemed content to chatter among themselves.

The car moved slow and the volcano was tall. It took the passengers over 15 minutes to reach the car station at the top. Most of Drew's companions commented on how great the view was and how excited they were. He kept to himself and looked forward.

And he hoped like hell no one would speak to him.

What if one of them knew who he was? What if they hounded him with questions about his loss? How would he respond? Thinking about it was painful enough, but if it would actually happen, what would he do? Logically, he knew he would keep his cool and pretend like his pride hadn't been wounded or he wasn't embarrassed. Internally, he knew he'd be a mess.

Because that was the thing with Drew; he knew most people thought he was pretty on top of everything. He always kept his emotions in check and he always kept his composure…but that didn't mean he didn't feel things. People saw the side of him he let them see; the cool, collected and professional Drew. He didn't give them anymore, because it was his business and his alone. There was no need for anyone else to know what went on in his head.

But he felt things; of course he did. And he hated to admit it, but he felt things pretty strongly sometimes.

He felt the pain of contest losses. He felt the pride and love for his Pokémon. He felt confusion and frustration when he thought about the girl in the red bandana. He felt comfort when he thought about Solidad. He felt awe and inspired when he watched contests. He felt happy when he competed. He felt things; he did.

And now, he felt pretty nervous being so close to several people who may or may not know who he was and might force him to relive the shame that was his loss at the Grand Festival.

Drew felt pretty torn up about it, but kept his face steely and reserved.

Miraculously, or at least in his mind, he made it to the top without a single interaction from anyone in the car.

He checked his PokéNav for the time; sure enough, there were no service bars and surprisingly still no texts, but that he blamed on the lack of cell phone reception. The time read 4:19, meaning he had plenty of daylight to explore and he could take his time getting down the mountain.

He was the first one off the car having been the last to go in. Drew bowed in thanks to the receptionist who greeted him at the top and made his way outside. The first thing he saw was treetops, obstructing the view he'd heard the people behind him talking about so much. So much for that.

Then he noticed the signs in front of him with arrows pointing in all directions. "Cable Station" had an arrow pointing directly to him. The "Jagged Pass" sign pointed off to a small opening in the tree line. One sign was faded and he couldn't make it out; view point? Point of interest? Whatever; it was something about a point.

Finally, as he heard the noises of the others exiting the station behind him, he read the "volcanic crater" sign, pointing off to the northeast behind him.

His eyes followed the sign to see several sets of stairs carved into the mountain, and an eerie reddish orange glow radiating at the top.

Drew was sure to start making his way over before the others could get close to him; his anxiety hadn't totally worn off, and on top of that, he had quite a few steps to climb before he made it to the top. Not that he wasn't in shape or anything, but he didn't normally climb up mountains all the time; Hoenn was more or less a flat region. Mt. Chimney was the highest point, and Mt. Pyre followed. Other than those two, Hoenn had no other high elevation spots.

The first few steps weren't too bad, but after the sixth set, he found himself a little breathless. But the higher up he went, the more things he noticed. He could start to feel the heat rolling down all around him and found himself actually sweating a little bit. He could see little flecks of ash showering around him. The rumbling sounds from the volcano became louder and louder with every step he took. The landscape was drastically changing, and he found himself intrigued by the power of the landscape.

Finally he made it to the top, and good thing, too, because he was starting to lose interest in going up. Going down was going to be much, much better. Still, the payoff was incredible.

Drew had never actually seen Mt. Chimney from this perspective. He could see the mountain from many points of Hoenn as he traversed through the land, but seeing it from up there was a completely different experience. He approached the pit of lava as closely as he could. A guardrail kept him contained just a few short yards away from where the magma overtook the land.

He had to shield his face from the heat with his arms, but he was unable to look away from the glowing molten ooze below him. Bright yellow, orange and red liquid fire bubbled beneath him, releasing bursts of sulfur and constantly moving around. The sounds of lava bubbles splashing and stirring up the liquid beneath him were an intriguing ambient soundtrack. The sulfur, although not pleasant, was nothing like he'd ever smelled before.

He'd never experienced anything like it and he couldn't take his eyes off of it.

As much as he didn't want to look away, he had to turn and shield his face from the intense heat the magma gave off. And his eyes beheld the full region of Hoenn.

From coast to coast, Drew could see all of it. He could see developed areas and patches of untouched wilderness. He could see flocks of bird Pokémon fluttering as tiny dots in various parts of the never-ending sky. He could see the huge buildings of Rustboro City to the west and the massive port of Lilycove. He could even see the Battle Tower rising over LaRousse City.

His eyes explored every inch of the landscape; the entire region was laid out before him.

And just near the southern most point of the region, he could see Slateport City. The place he'd spent the last week of his life. The city he just couldn't seem to win in.

Despite how much effort he put into purging the thoughts, his mind yet again replayed the events of the weekend: all of his efforts to sort through the drama he'd dealt with and the hard work of his Pokémon bringing him all the way to the final match despite how distracted he had been.

And then there was the champion emerging from the field to give him a motivational pep talk that did little to ease the pain. Robert had probably said those things to be polite. Maybe he wasn't serious about Drew's skills (as he had no reason to be, having beaten Drew both times they'd faced off in the season), but he guessed he could at least appreciate that Robert made the effort to let his Pokémon feel better about it.

His Pokémon who he'd let down. At the end of it all, Drew knew that was what bothered him the most: the fact that he made the bad calls, and he was the reason they'd lost their final battle.

He looked up to a reddening sky and sighed deeply; just how long would it take to get over this? To not have to be reminded about how close he had come to his title and his heart-breaking defeat and just the negative repercussions of a loss the magnitude that his was?

After a few moments of deafening negative thoughts, his eyes fell back on the region below him. If he had to be upset about it all, at least he could appreciate a good view while doing so. It was so much bigger and so much more beautiful than he ever imagined, because he had never seen Hoenn this way before.

Hoenn: the place he'd been and known for his entire journey so far and more or less his life. The place he hoped to become a champion.

The wind swept across his face as his eyes finally met with the sparkling oceans that separated Hoenn from the other regions of the world. Before him was all the places he'd been (in some cases, multiple times) and beyond his sights was a world he'd never ventured into. Contest halls he'd never competed in, coordinators he'd never battled against, ribbons he'd never won, Pokémon he'd never met and worked with…it all lied beyond the horizon. And it intrigued him. Were he not so determined to become a Top Coordinator in his home region, he might have given it a bit more thought, but it had been nice just to ponder it for a few moments.

Hoenn was his home, and he didn't plan on straying.

* * *

For some reason, six people felt like a big crowd.

Which, of course, wasn't true. Drew had seen and performed in front of big crowds; six other people was nothing. But up at the top of Mt. Chimney, it felt like a large crowd and he didn't want to share this special place with them for some reason. It made it feel…less special, somehow.

When the six other travelers had made it to the top of the stairs, a man in a uniform appeared and told them to settle in as he was preparing to give some kind of presentation on the volcano and its history. If Drew had wanted to learn about this volcano all that much, he would have gone to the museum in town, which he was thankful he hadn't. Seeing it and experiencing its beauty first hand was far better than going to see it on screens and picture displays.

So he left. After all, the main reason he went was to search for potential new Pokémon on the way back.

The receptionist seemed confused as he made his way back in front of the cable car station.

"Will you be riding the car back, sir?" she asked him.

"Oh, no, I'm going to hike down Jagged Pass," he explained.

"Alone?"

"Yeah."

The woman's confusion changed from confusion to more of concern. She bit her lip and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Everyone else on the tour has chosen to ride the car back down once Dr. Barnett finishes his talk up there," she informed him softly. "Are you sure you don't want to just stick on with the group?"

"I'm sure," Drew nodded, his eyes looking towards the start of the trail.

Another moment of silence passed as she looked for the words to convince him that he shouldn't deviate from the safe side of things. But playing it safe wasn't really how you got anywhere in life; he knew that.

"Please be careful," she finally warned him. "The pass can be very treacherous for inexperienced hikers. It's about two and a half miles overall."

"I'm experienced," he politely dismissed. "But thank you; I'll be careful."

His reassurance didn't seem to calm her nerves, but she nodded, probably sensing she wasn't going to talk him out of it. Drew only hoped he could convey that he was capable, decided it didn't really matter and just pressed on. He was more focused on the part of him that was sad to lose the view of Hoenn to the tree line.

* * *

Jagged pass was a lot of things.

The ground was uneven in every step Drew took, and he found himself watching more where he was stepping rather than looking for wild Pokémon. He had to jump down dozens of small ledges and leap over quite a few holes in the ground. The soil was softer in some parts than others, so occasionally his foot would sink into what he swore was solid ground.

It was warm; very, very warm. It felt like the middle of a hot summer day in Hoenn, though realistically, this was the year temperatures usually dropped a few degrees in Hoenn. The heat was no doubt burning the air around thanks to the open crater of lava near him and the flow of molten rock yards beneath his feet. He would have taken off his jacket if he had felt like holding it on the way down. He rationalized it would be cooler the closer he got to the bottom.

The air was hazy and muggy. A few moments after he'd begun his descent, the winds shifted from northwest to southeast, and the massive plume of smoke Mt. Chimney was producing started to block the sun out. Everything around him just looked gray and dull and smelled strongly of fire and brimstone. A few bushes he brushed against on his way down sprinkled ash to the ground below him.

At one point, he ran his fingers through his hair sensing that he was collecting falling ash as he continued down the path, and he was right. Little flecks of gray rained down as he ran his fingers through his hair and he sneezed. He didn't enjoy the thought of getting so dirty. But he was the one who wanted to do this, and a little bit of ash wasn't going to stop him.

All in all, it was a difficult walk. Definitely not was he was expecting, but it was more than alright. He never truly stopped to appreciate the world around him like this, even if it was just to avoid tripping. Bonus: he seemed to be the only one on the path, and the silence was comforting.

There were wild Pokémon about on the trail as well. He assumed that because the path seemed so rarely used, wild Pokémon probably felt more comfortable out in the open here. He studied each on he came across intently.

More often than not, he saw wild Spindas running around. Well…stumbling around was a better way to describe it. Drew analyzed the tiny teddy bear Pokémon as they appeared from the gray bushes and tall patches of ash-covered grasses. How effective would a Spinda be in competing?

They were cute, so at least they had that going for them. Cute Pokémon often scored a lot of points in appeal rounds just based on their looked alone. Other than that single pro, he couldn't find many benefits to training one. The little Pokémon struggled to walk in a straight line, and he doubted it could focus or perform well when it needed to. It couldn't be blamed for that, though; that was just their nature.

Further down the path, he spotted two Numels, one a bit larger than the other. He watched them from behind a bush and weighed the pros and cons. He didn't have any fire Pokémon on his team, and he'd definitely seen some nice fire-based appeals and moves in battles throughout the season. One particular coordinator and her Combusken stood out in his mind, but he pushed those thoughts back as he focused in one the Pokémon.

Numel was a notoriously slow creature. And they could be lazy if not disciplined correctly. But once they evolved into Camerupt, they were a force to be dealt with. Imagine what he could do with more fire attacks in his arsenal. Imagine the combinations he could pull…

He was seeing more pros than cons, and he quietly reached into his pocket for a Pokéball.

That was when he realized why the Numel were standing so close together. And rubbing their heads against each other. And why they were…

…

… _Oh. Oh no._

Drew instantly turned away from the scene. It didn't take a lot of thinking to see that they were…mating. The coordinator shivered and his eye twitched a few times as he rushed away quietly and shaking the images frantically out of his head. How embarrassing.

He jumped the next time he happened upon a wild Pokémon. Thankfully, this one was alone, and Drew was able to forget the previous display when he set his eyes on the Spoink. It was another interesting choice for sure. The little pig Pokémon was jumping up and down, aiming its mouth for a berry nestled high up in the tree. Its bounce was impressive as the little Pokémon hopped straight from the ground all the way up to the top, and fell back to the ground gracefully.

From what he knew about Spoinks, which was very limited information, they were psychic Pokémon that evolved into Grumpigs, and they were very attached to the pearls they carried with them on top of their head. Take away the pearl, take away all concentration and reason. A Spoink couldn't function without its precious treasure balanced atop its head, and that was typically was they focused on. Not contests. Drew didn't think it was a good match.

An impressive Skarmory showed up not too far away from where the Spoink had been. Drew had never considered a steel Pokémon for his team. The steal bird's body glistened in what little sunlight fed the area around it, and it was a beautiful, healthy looking Pokémon. Definitely worth noting; he wanted to go for it.

But the Skarmory was hyperaware. The second Drew took a single step closer to it, the bird's gaze instantly shot to him. It let out a loud shriek and flew away, not looking back a single second. Disheartening, sure, but Drew faced worse losses.

The more he walked, the more Pokémon he spotted, all he had an internal debate over before ultimately deciding he either didn't want them on his team, or they wouldn't exactly benefit his team. It seemed like this trip was going to be all for nothing, especially sense he was getting closer to the end of the trail.

At one point, he happened to spot a Mankey hanging out a top a short tree along the path. A rare Pokémon for Hoenn indeed, but he dismissed the notion of capturing it almost instantly. Mankeys were hard to control as they were, but they were even harder once they evolved. Primeapes could be unstoppable mindless rage machines.

So raising one for contests didn't seem smart…at all. It was a task he didn't want to devote too much time to when Mankey probably couldn't help him much in contests, anyway.

Mankey, being a Pokémon typically found in Kanto brought his thoughts back to Solidad. His hands slid inside his jacket pocket to retrieve his PokéNav once again and he unlocked the device.

His service signal finally showed one bar; a weak signal, but it was typically enough to receive text messages. And he did have a new message in his folder.

"Finally," he breathed.

Solidad was a smart girl who was more than capable of taking care of herself; he knew that. But having not heard from her all day was so unlike her, that he'd have been lying had he said a part of him wasn't growing concerned.

He opened the message and read over it, only for his face to fall.

The message wasn't from Solidad.

It was a confirmation from the spa he'd left his Pokémon at.

 _Dear Mr. Hayden– thank you for trusting your Pokémon in our care! We promise to treat your Pokémon to a life of luxury throughout their stay, and we want to assure you that–  
_

He stopped reading, because he didn't care. He only cared about why Solidad hadn't reached out to him yet.

It had been a little over two hours since he'd sent his last message to her informing her of where he was going. And before that, his other unanswered texts took up space in the chat window. None of the messages bore a read receipt beneath them, meaning Solidad hadn't even looked at the messages yet.

It worried him; was she okay? Maybe one bar wasn't enough and he hadn't been receiving the messages she was trying to send?

He knew logically, again, he didn't need to worry about her, but for some reason, that didn't help. The last thing she'd said was arrived home from Johto, and that she was planning on talking to him the next day. Since then, silence, and no explanation as to why.

The realization pushed him to walk just a little bit faster down the trail, with the thought of catching new Pokémon far behind him.

* * *

It took him the whole of an hour to make it back to town.

He hadn't been running or jogging by any means, but he definitely walked at a faster pace than he normally did.

Settled into a new hotel room, he swiftly placed his PokéNav a desk in front of him and connected it to a charger, ensuring the battery wouldn't fail him.

He didn't waste time with texts, because he knew they would just go unanswered. He didn't even have a coffee, which felt so unnatural to call her without one. But this wasn't a normal call. This was all but a frantic one by that point.

There was some form of anxiety creeping up on him as he listened to the dial tones play. Once, twice, thrice…no answer. Drew's fingers drummed at his sides impatiently as he waited for Solidad to answer the call.

By the fifth unanswered dial tone, he felt himself getting more and more stressed, until…

She rejected the call.

By the sixth dial tone, the call had abruptly been dropped, the screen on Drew's PokéNav informing him that his call could not be connected because the recipient chose to decline.

Drew exhaled a huge sigh in relief. At least he knew she was there, and he felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Now all he needed to know was why she ignored him.

He didn't want to be pesky or annoying or overbearing; obviously Solidad must have had a valid reason to ignore him all day and he knew he should probably respect that. But it was so unlike her to just…to let him worry. Or perhaps she didn't think he was worried.

But he wanted her to know; he wanted her to know he cared.

And he wanted to talk to his best friend.

His finger pressed down on the retry call option, and the phone once again went into dial tones as he watched the screen, waiting. This time, the call only made it to the second dial tone before he got the call rejection.

He raised an eyebrow at the screen, and switched to his texting app. If she didn't want to talk to him, it was fine, but he felt he deserved to know what was going on.

He sent a simple " _?_ " in a text, and watched the screen. As he knew it would, a read receipt appeared under the question mark chat bubble. Yet no indication that she was typing back appeared.

So now she was reading his messages, but ignoring them. It was just as concerning as before, when she hadn't acknowledged him at all.

Frustrated, he switched back to calling. And again, he was ignored by the third ring. Switching back to his texts, he typed a simple but brief message.

 _Solidad, I don't want to worry about you this much. Can you please just tell me what's going on?_

This time, he didn't wait to see if she would read the message. He simply pulled up his videophone and dialed her number again, waiting.

The call wasn't rejected on the first ring. Or the second, third or fourth. He waited and watched his little PokéNav screen continue to send out the call, wondering what she was doing. Clearly, she was deciding whether or not to answer this time, because she hadn't shut him down immediately.

But what if she hadn't been answering because she was indecent or busy or out with friends or…what if he was just being too pushy? Maybe he should try again later?

He didn't have time to fully reconsider, because then, miraculously, on the seventh dial tone, the screen changed, and displayed a "connecting" badge.

She had accepted the call, and now he waited as the WIFI in his room connected her video feed to him.

… _What?_

Solidad was always cheerful looking; he'd never seen her go longer than two minutes without smiling at something. She always looked cheerful, healthy, put together and relaxed.

Now, she did not.

He hair looked like she hadn't brushed through it all day. Her cheeks were puffy and slightly swollen, and her eyes were a glassy light reddish color. She was wearing pajamas that added to her disheveled look. She pursed her lips and didn't look at him or the screen, but kept her focus locked on the steaming mug of liquid in her hands.

Drew instantly recognized that it was hot chocolate in her mug. And it set off fire alarms in his brain.

"Why were you crying?" he blurted out, unthinking.

She just shrugged and dragged her mug up to her lips, taking a small sip of her drink before finally turning to face him with a sad smile.

He'd never seen her this sad before, or rather…he'd never seen her sad, ever. Solidad was such a carefree spirit, and more times than he could count, that happiness had helped him through tough losses and stressful moments. He was so used to the light in her eyes, that seeing it absent was…it was foreign, and he didn't know how to process it.

She had once told him that hot chocolate was her go-to drink for when she was feeling upset. Clearly, though, it was doing little to help her now. And his brain was going into overdrive to keep his expression even and figure out a way to help her through whatever was going on.

"Sorry for not getting back to you today," she said regretfully. "It's…it hasn't been the best day, and I know you're not exactly having the best time, either, so–"

"Fuck what I'm feeling, Solidad," he stopped her, almost angry she could find it in herself to worry about him when something was clearly eating at her so badly.

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head, that sad smile locked in place. Her right arm raised to wipe away at her eyes quickly before falling back onto the mug.

"Bad language doesn't suit you, Drew," she scolded him slowly.

"Well, sadness doesn't suit you," he fought back. "What's going on?"

Solidad took a second to sigh and looked back to face him, her eyes still red and her lips pursed.

"It's…been a _long_ weekend," she finally admitted. "I– well, they said not to say I, because it was a team effort, but we didn't win the right to host the Wallace Cup this year, which sucked majorly. I just feel like I let the whole region down, you know? Like they asked me to represent with the best of the best and it just…it wasn't enough. I guess I wasn't enough."

Drew listened intently. There was still something wrong. He had seen Solidad face a loss before; he remembered her telling him how she cried all night after her devastating loss in the Grand Festival two years prior. She has admitted to him just how hard that loss has hit her…but this was different.

This time around, it still didn't seem as heavy. Solidad handled losses well; her never-ending supply of grace and wisdom helped her through. Solidad was strong, and to be this upset over this loss didn't seem right. Sure it was a chance for Kanto to host the Wallace Cup for the first time…but she would know better not to bear the weight of all of that on herself.

Drew knew his best friend.

He knew her so well; he knew a loss so trivial wouldn't get her this down. Something else had to have hap–

"And then…" she continued.

She closed her eyes for a second and her face looked like she was trying to hold back more emotions. Drew made sure to keep his mouth shut and not push her in anyway. He had never seen her struggle so much with something before.

"When I woke up this morning, I got a call…" she paused again.

Again, Drew sat patiently and waited.

"Do you remember my friend in Mossdeep?" she asked him slowly. "Arthur? The one who came and watched your contest with me?"

It took Drew a few seconds to remember who she was talking about. His mind flashed him back to all those months ago…when he met Solidad's elderly friend whom she had met in Shoal Cave. He was…the one who made the Shell Bells? And the one who had given Solidad her Butterfree.

It all came back, and he did remember her friend. He nodded in confirmation.

"He passed away last night," Solidad said, a new tear racing down her cheek as her hand went to catch it.

Of all the things that could have been wrong, news like that was something that never crossed his mind. It all made sense, now. He felt ice shoot through his veins and his mouth hang open, in a feeble attempt to say something – _anything_ – comforting.

She kept her head low and eyes averted as she raised her mug to her lips once again, holding it to her mouth but not really sipping it. He noticed she was blinking rapidly, probably trying to keep the tears in. It was so odd, to see Solidad cry. Part of him had believed she was incapable of such a thing.

"What happened?" Drew forced himself to ask; it was the only thing his brain could seem to force past his tongue.

Solidad lowered her mug back into her lap.

"He…he'd gotten sick," she explained. "He loved to spend time in Shoal Cave, because it was a really special place for him. But Shoal Cave is unique, as I'm sure you know. It gets really cold in there during low tides. Like, below freezing cold; not somewhere you want to be when you're in your late 70's.

"He had gotten sick. I spoke to him a few weeks ago, and he told me he had caught a cold from staying in there particularly late one day. He said he'd been feeding some of the Sealo in the cave, because he was so sweet. He was so sweet, Drew, and he was friends with all the Pokémon who lived there.

"I remember him telling me it was just a minor cold, but throughout our conversation, he had a terrible cough. It worried me, and I think he could see that, but for the entirety of the time we talked, he just kept saying, 'I'm fine! No need to worry! I'm absolutely fine!' And that was that.

"But then…over the course of the next few weeks, he didn't really get any better. And the last week when I spoke to him, he was in the hospital with a bad case of pneumonia…and one of the nurses called me this morning and…and…"

She buried her face in her hands, the mug abandoned on the desk beside her PokéNav. Her hands were shaking and her head went back and fourth from side to side.

"She said he had me listed as family," she sobbed. "She said he wanted to tell me that he was so happy he had met me and so thankful for all I had done for him and just…he said that he loved me like the daughter he never had.

"And he wanted to tell me all of those things, but he couldn't get in touch with me because I didn't have my phone most of the time that I at the Wallace Cup Conference…"

Drew's heart sank for her. She was so devastated as she spoke.

"He wanted to tell me goodbye, and I wasn't available to speak to him one last time," she held her head in her hands, trying to hide from him as she cried.

He didn't know what to do. Drew couldn't think of any words or any single action he could do to help take the pain away from his best friend. But there was little to nothing he could do for her. Not over a phone call, anyway. Drew was more willing than ever to hug her and hold onto his friend for as long as she needed him to, but that wasn't possible.

"Solidad, just let it out," he said softly; it was all he could do.

She looked at him with shaky, tear-filled eyes.

"I know you're going through your own stuff right now," Solidad responded. "This is why I didn't get in touch with you all day; I know we're both hurting and there's not much either or us can do for each other. I just didn't want to make it worse for you."

His heart bled for her; she was suffering a personal loss, and hurting so badly over it, all the while she wanted to put his better interest in front of her. She was so selfless. She was so…Solidad.

Drew only wanted to give her the same amount of love and support she always gave him.

"It's not that big a deal," he told her.

She looked at him, confused, so he continued.

"Look, I lost, big deal," he said. "It happened, and I'm not worried about it all that much. Like you said, it could happen, and it did. That's not what's important right now, Sol. It's what you're going through. Don't worry about me."

Solidad pursed her lips, seeming like she was thinking of how to protest or combat him.

"Don't," he stopped her. "Just get it all out; let's get you through this."

She finally relented, sighed and nodded.

"I haven't told Butterfree yet…I don't know how to just tell her," she said.

"I think it'd be best if you just came out and told her," Drew offered. "She deserves to know, the sooner the better."

"I know…I've been putting it off all day," she replied. "I've just been such a mess. It's been such a hard day."

"I can only imagine…" he agreed. "Is there going to be a service for him?"

"The funeral is Friday afterrnoon in Mossdeep," she answered. "I'm flying over there on Thursday and I am going to bring Butterfree."

"Would it be okay if I came with you?" he surprised her by asking.

"You don't have to do that, Drew," she sniffled. "I know that it's not exactly your comfort zone…you know, human emotion and what not."

"It's not a matter of what I like and don't like, Solidad," he looked her straight in the eyes. "You are my best friend, and I am here for you. You would drop everything for me if the situation was reversed. I want you to know how much you matter to me, and I want to be here for you in this."

For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, a genuine smile graced her lips. True, it was still a sad smile, but it finally reached her eyes. And that was enough progress for him.

"I'll meet you in Mossdeep on Thursday night, okay?" he confirmed.

Again, she smiled at him. It was a smile that gave him hope that maybe he was on the right track to helping her through this terrible time.

Drew had never personally faced a loss like this. He had very few people in his life and even fewer in his inner circle. His parents had divorced when he was very young, and he didn't remember much about his mother. Though he barely interacted with them, his grandparents were all still living, so he never really felt like he was missing anything. He'd never lost anyone he was close to, and he wasn't exactly sure how to help someone who had.

And she was right when she said this matter was far outside of his personal comfort zone. But that didn't matter.

Solidad had been there for him, time and time again, even in the times he hadn't known he needed her. He'd do anything to help her when she needed him.

"Alright," she nodded.

She took a moment to examine the clock on her wall, not realizing it was getting late. She had a lot to do to prepare for her trip, and she still had some emotional walls to scale before she could leave. Above all, her Pokémon, _Arthur's Pokémon_ , deserved to know what had happened. Keeping this terrible news from Butterfree any longer would have been wrong.

"I think I need to talk to Butterfree now…" she sighed.

"I agree," he nodded. "It'll be hard, but this will pass"

Drew could sense Solidad was appreciative of his being there, and that she knew she needed to take care of the importance task of telling her Pokémon what had happened.

"Listen, call me if you need to talk some more. I'm serious, Solidad, I'm here for you, okay?"

"Okay," she rubbed at her eyes one more time, wiping away the last tear. "Thank you so much, Drew. I'll be in touch. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Solidad."

With that, he closed out the call, feeling both relieved and heartbroken all at once.

* * *

Drew didn't like wearing suits.

There were a lot of factors that went into fueling his disdain for the outfits. They were uncomfortable and at the end of the summer, they were still too hot for Hoenn. Plus, standing there in all black, next to Solidad in her all black dress made the whole scene feel even more depressing than it already was.

The normally blue skies that seemed to constantly live above Mossdeep were now gone, replaced by heavy gray clouds and wind gusts that seemed to be increasing by the minute. It was only a matter of time before it started to rain, but no one seemed to care. The weather perfectly matched up to the mood.

The small group all kept a faithful vigil around the grave as the coffin was lowered into the ground, right beside a grave plot that shared the same headstone. Solidad had explained it was his wife buried by his side, and Drew had respectfully nodded.

The headstone read out Elaine and Arthur Coble, with little carvings of bells decorating the top and bottom of the surface. Elaine's birth and death dates were a little faded, and Arthur's side was freshly carved: a fact that stung a little harder the more they all looked at it.

Butterfree stayed wrapped up in Solidad's arms, a beautiful red rose the Roselia had provided in her mouth as she watched the wooden casket disappear in the ground. Solidad also held a rose.

Drew was careful not to speak or move or do anything in fear of disregarding the moment. He had no personal connection to Arthur; he'd only met him once, briefly, after the Mossdeep Contest. The man praised Drew and his performance in the competition, and…that had really been all. Arthur was much closer to Solidad.

Now, he was there to support Solidad and her Butterfree, but couldn't help but feel sucked into the moment's sadness as well.

Because the night before, when they'd met at their hotel and sat in the lobby for some coffee, Solidad gushed about the amazing man that they were all going to say goodbye to the following morning.

The way she had spoken of Arthur, Solidad held him in high respect. They had met only several months prior, but she had nothing other than kind words of the man being laid to rest. She spoke of how sweet and devoted he was to his late wife, how he was so brave for going to that first contest with her to see Drew perform, how skilled he was in bell making, how generous he was in giving her his Butterfree so that it could have a chance to compete, and so many other things. They may have only met once, but Solidad was always good about staying in touch with her friends; Arthur had been no exception.

The service itself was short but intimate. There had been a gathering and wake at Arthur's home early in the afternoon, where few friends and family had come to say goodbye. Drew and Solidad, as well as her Butterfree were some of the last ones to view Arthur before the casket was closed and they were all told where to meet in the cemetery for the final proceedings. Throughout the few hours, some people made a few statements about who Arthur was to them and how he'd impacted their lives. Solidad, her Butterfree and Drew stayed to the side and listened; Drew had no story to tell and Solidad didn't feel it right to speak for some reason (or perhaps just because she wasn't truly related to Arthur or his wife, and it seemed that only his relatives were speaking).

Drew, Solidad and Butterfree stayed together in silence, perfectly still and unmoving. Even when the small crowd of Arthur's friends and family began to dissipate around them and the rain startled to drizzle from the sky, the trio stayed there. Drew opened the umbrella he had brought along with him and held it above all of them. Solidad uttered a small thank you to him.

He didn't mind standing there. He hadn't known Arthur all that well and had never actually been to a funeral before, but he respectfully stood there and let his friend and her Pokémon have the proper goodbye they needed. In his head, he thanked Arthur the role he had played in Solidad's life and having had such a positive impact on her.

At one point, Solidad finally raised her eyes to see that they were alone. She brought her eyes down to Drew who, sensing her movement, looked up to her as well. Their eyes met for a few moments in silence, and Drew tried to give her a small smile of reassurance. She in return nodded, and hugged her Butterfree a little bit closer as they took a step towards the grave, out of the protection of the umbrella.

"Thank you for your wisdom, courage and friendship, Arthur," Solidad whispered while letting go of the rose she'd been holding on to. "I will never forget you and will always be thankful to have met you."

Butterfree fluttered out of Solidad's arms and hovered in the air a few inches in front of her, looking down. She chirped sadly for a few moments before dropping her rose down into the ground as well. It seemed as though the butterfly Pokémon was saying goodbye in its own way, and the two coordinators respected Butterfree's wishes by letting it cry out for as long as it needed to. When she was finished, Butterfree settled back into Solidad's arms not taking her eyes off of the grave.

The pair stayed out in the light rain for a few more somber moments before finally turning back to face Drew.

"I think we're ready to leave," Solidad informed him.

Drew only nodded, and the three quietly and slowly exited the cemetery.

They'd been there almost the entire day.

* * *

The past few days had given Solidad the time to process the loss, and though she was still mourning, she seemed to have been doing better having had the chance at a proper goodbye.

She wasn't crying the way she had been on the day she'd found out. After all, time was supposed to heal all wounds.

They'd made an effort to go out and grab dinner so they wouldn't have to worry about it later, but they were conscious of the coming storm, so they did their best to hurry. It had been a quiet meal mostly, but it was an oddly comforting silence.

When they'd made it back to their hotel, the storm truly did unleash. Rain and fierce winds overtook Mossdeep, and Drew and Solidad settled in by sitting beside large windows in the hotel's main lobby to watch the showcase of nature. It getting late in the evening, and the dark clouds above made it seem much later. A weather alert on their PokéNavs told them the storm was to last well into the night, but it was fine. They knew they wouldn't be leaving until the morning.

Little words had passed between them here and there, but they had mostly remained quiet since they left the cemetery and eaten dinner. Even now, with Solidad and her Pokémon resting on the chair across from him and looking outward, the only sounds were the heavy drops of rain smacking into the glass window.

Without warning, a huge streak of lightning raced across the sky, immediately followed by a massive boom of thunder. The loud crash startled the three, and Butterfree actually jumped from Solidad's lap right onto Drew's. The butterfly Pokémon buried its tiny head into his chest and shook in fear of the weather.

Solidad watched the scene pay out with a small smile on her lips. Drew seemed startled, more by her Pokémon diving into his lap than the actual weather. His hands fell onto Butterfree's back and began rubbing soothing circles out of instinct.

When he looked up and met Solidad's eyes and warm smile, his face turned a bit red.

"Butterfree really likes you," Solidad pointed out, crossing her legs over her now empty lap and leaning back into the chair. "She's always really liked you, ever since the day you two met. Remember, on your birthday? She went right to you then, too, and she didn't even know you all that well."

"Yeah, I guess," Drew said, a little offhanded, still petting Butterfree. "When Roselia was younger, she used to be scared of storms like this, and I'd pat her back like this to help her calm down."

Solidad nodded.

"You just have a natural gift for connecting with Pokémon," she commented. "It's probably a big reason why you're such a gifted coordinator."

Drew smiled a bit back at her. She seemed to finally be perking up a little. Maybe now that the worst was behind them, she was feeling better. Butterfree eventually stopped shaking in his arms, but Drew didn't stop patting her, just incase another lightning strike was waiting to flash.

"It's been a long day, huh?" she sighed as she turned her head back out to the window.

"Are you feeling better?" Drew asked softly.

"I guess, for the most part," she admitted. "Being here and saying goodbye…it feels like it's real now. It feels final. I think that, when I was so far away in Kanto, it was harder for me to accept it. And seeing how Butterfree was even more devastated than I was when I told her… I think more than anything, we needed the closure of a real goodbye.

"It still hurts, and both Butterfree and I have lost a great friend, but I think that we'll both be okay. If anything, I want to make Arthur proud, and I know Butterfree feels the same way."

Butterfree became lively, nodding up and down in Drew's arms and jumped back for Solidad. She was back with her trainer in the blink of an eye, the sadness replaced mostly by a look of determination of sorts.

"We talked about it last night," Solidad smiled down at her little Pokémon. "And we decided we're going to dedicate our contest season in Kanto to Arthur."

Butterfree grew more and more excited as she spoke. Her eyes sparkled more with every word Solidad said.

"And we're going to win the Grand Festival for Athur and his wife," Solidad concluded. "We're going to complete he and his wife's dreams."

Drew nodded, looking back and fourth between the pair. Her self appointed mission was inspiring, and he hoped he could achieve the same drive and motivation when his contest season started…in almost five months. Solidad's stage was set in just under two weeks. He had some waiting to do.

"Speaking of contests, actually…" Solidad started to say.

"We don't have to talk about it," Drew held his hand up in protest.

"I'm okay, Drew, really," Solidad looked him straight in the eye. "You being here, and the events of today have really helped me more than I can say. And I appreciate your presence so much more than you know. I'm in a good place now, and I'll only continue to get better. But we've been talking about me all week, and you, too, faced a devastating loss that we haven't talked about once."

He searched her eyes for any hesitation; any sing of her words betraying her feelings. But why would he find any? This was Solidad; she was always genuine and always willing to help other people no matter what. And from what he could see in her expression, she was serious; she wanted to start moving on, and perhaps constantly talking about the matter wasn't helping all that much.

She was forever the kindest soul on the planet; no wonder people like Arthur and everyone else gravitated towards her.

His lips were pursed and he was unsure of whether or not it was okay to turn the conversation to him. He didn't feel like it was okay, but her eyes told him it was. Butterfree's did the same.

So with a long sigh, he finally shifted his body in the chair to fully face her and opened his mouth.

"It was hard," he admitted. "But you know, Robert came and spoke to me after our battle in the locker room."

"Oh wow," Solidad seemed surprised. "What did he have to say?"

"It was odd at first," Drew agreed. "But he was polite; he congratulated my Pokémon on how well they performed and he even said some things about drawing inspiration from some of my performances, which I thought was crazy, because both times we've battled, he's been far batter than me."

"I mean, I don't think it's that weird to say that," Solidad said. "I've learned a lot from coordinators who have beaten me before."

"Yeah, he said the same thing," Drew admitted. "But like I said, the loss hurt; the first few minutes afterwards felt surreal. Even more so when Robert actually came in to speak to me. But for as hard as it was and how hard it's been, I just feel like I'm still ready to go. It's hard to explain, but when I was on top of Mt. Chimney looking out over Hoenn, all I could think about was how much I was to be a Top Coordinator. But now, somehow, I have to suppress that for a while.

"I hate the offseason; I feel like I'm ready to compete now, and I have to wait all these months to get back in the arena."

Something in Solidad's face seemed to shift while she listened to him. Her expression flashed a brief bit of excitement when he finished speaking, and he quirked an eyebrow at her.

"I mean, Drew, technically, you don't have to wait to compete again," she offered slowly.

It took Drew's brain two full seconds to comprehend what she was implying. The first thing he thought of was how stupid he was for never even considering the possibility of the Kanto Contest Circuit. The second thing he thought of was how hard it would be to leave home.

He knew nothing of Kanto, or any other regions for the matter. He'd always stayed in Hoenn; it was what he knew and what he felt comfortable in. Drew didn't take risks like that.

"I know what you're thinking," Solidad sounded off from in front of him. "And I think you need to calm down a little and look at the big picture here."

"I'm not thinking anything?" he challenged her.

"Drew, your face says it all; you've never even thought about leaving home and competing elsewhere," Solidad shook her head. "And I know it's scary to think about taking such a big step and leaving everything you know behind, but I think you should consider it.

"There's a ton of benefits with competing somewhere else. For one, you'd get to start a whole lot earlier as opposed to waiting for next contest season here to roll around. You can keep that momentum you have going.

"There's also the fact that you'll have so much more to learn and so many more opportunities to grow as a coordinator. New Pokémon, new coordinators, new places to go and things to learn; there's like no limit to the things you can do once you take the leap and try something new.

"And finally, you'd get to compete against me again. I don't see how you could be opposed to that, after all. That's like the icing on the cake."

Solidad's eyes sparkled with the thought of him going to Kanto.

"It'd be a lot of fun, Sol, but I don't know if I should–" Drew started.

"Tell me right now why you shouldn't do it," she challenged. "Give me at least three good reasons why you shouldn't try it."

Drew sucked in a breath; Solidad was nearly unstoppable when she was on the offensive. Though he knew she would ultimately respect that this decision was his choice in the end, he could see the fire in her eyes. He could see that she firmly believed this was a good idea and that she would do her best to push for it.

The idea was both exciting and terrifying; traveling to a new region to compete, let alone be in the same contest circuit as his best friend again. Reliving their first battle when he so shamefully lost would not be the case were they to face off again. While she had grown since that time, so had he. He was much, much better than he had been the day they'd met.

But Kanto was also daunting; he'd never been away from home before. He'd spent the first 10 years of his life in LaRousse going to school and living with a father who was obsessed with running an upcoming financial corporation, and the last three years traveling throughout the rest of his region earning ribbons and chasing a dream. He knew nothing of Kanto, other than that it was Solidad's home and contests had finally branched out to them in the last few years.

"I've never actually been to Kanto," Drew said slowly. "I don't know a thing about it."

Solidad looked puzzled for a moment, and he stared straight back at her, waiting for her to explain why she looked so confused.

"That's…that's the best you could come up with after three minutes of silence?" she asked, her confusion morphing into an understanding smile.

His face turned crimson in embarrassment, and he diverted his eyes back out the window to watch the rain water slide down the pane of glass. But it was true; how could he leave everything he knew behind for a place he knew absolutely nothing about.

"You know, Drew, I was terrified when I first came to Hoenn," Solidad said, drawing his eyes back over to her. "I was just like you; I didn't know the first thing when it came to this region other than this is where Pokémon Contests were born and that I wanted to pursue a career in Pokémon coordinating.

"As you can imagine, because you're feeling the same way, it's a pretty big decision to make. I struggled with it for weeks before I finally just packed up and left before I lost my nerve. And honestly, it was the best decision I ever made.

"I'm not just saying that; it really was something I'll never regret. I have met so many incredible people and Pokémon throughout this journey. I've fought some of the most rewarding battles and I'm faced the most humbling losses. I'm a better person because I took the risk and moved on from everything I knew. Now I know so, so much more.

"I don't have to tell you that to grow as a coordinator, you have to take risks. You have to try new things and go through trials and errors to better yourself. You and your Pokémon need the new experiences to inspire and help you move past the things you've already done. You know that, just look at what meeting a new rival this season has done for you."

Drew's eye twitched, but he chose to say nothing. Solidad smirked briefly and continued on.

"You know I'm right," she said firmly. "Even if you don't want to outright admit, you know I'm right, and I bet that there's a part of you that is considering it."

"Solidad," Drew started, then paused for a moment. "I'm not saying…that you're wrong or anything, but it's just a huge decision to make and I just don't know."

She smiled softly and nodded.

A huge strike of lightning flashed across the sky and thunder followed, silencing the two for a moment.

"Look, I can't make this choice for you," Solidad continued. "I know I can't, and this is your journey. I'm not trying to tell you how to go about pursing your dream, but I will say this; if the best excuse you can come up with is the fact that you've never been to Kanto, well then, to that I say, there's a first time for everything.

"I'm telling you this as a friend, Drew…I think this would be good for you. You and your team. You guys all have so much talent and I know you'll be successful in whatever you choose to do. And I think Kanto and our contest circuit could have a lot to teach you."

"Yeah," Drew sighed. "I know."

"I think you should seriously think about it," Solidad offered. "Promise me you'll think about it?"

"Of course, Sol," he nodded.

Solidad then stretched out her arms, rising to her feet; Drew and Butterfree's eyes followed her motions.

"It's getting kind of late," she pointed out.

Butterfree began squirming in Drew's arms, reaching out for Solidad. He released the little butterfly Pokémon who perched herself atop Solidad's head.

"I'm ready to get out of all this black," Solidad pulled at her dress a little. "I think I need a long bath and some sleep."

"Yeah, it's been a pretty long day," Drew stretched a bit as well. "You sure you're okay with everything?"

"I mean it still hurts," she admitted, raising her hand to pat Butterfree. "But I think it's helped a lot now that we've had time to grieve and process everything. And it definitely helped that you stood by our side today. Thank you, Drew, seriously. You helped us both out so much."

"Anytime, Solidad," he looked at her firmly. "I mean it; you've always been such a great friend to me and I hope you know how much I've always appreciated you."

She smiled warmly and bent down to give him a quick hug.

"I'll see you down here for breakfast before I head back home tomorrow," she said.

He nodded and bid her goodnight. Solidad disappeared into the elevator on her way back to her room.

Drew stayed in his chair looking aimlessly out of the window.

Fifteen minutes passed and his PokéNav buzzed with a text from Solidad.

 _I forgot to point this out; going to Kanto would mean not having to wait three whole months to compete!_

Another message buzzed.

 _No pressure, just saying! ;)_

And one last one appeared.

 _Don't sit there so gloomy all night; go to bed at some point! Love you!_

Drew groaned and threw his head back against the cushions.

* * *

It was midnight, and Drew laid in his bed wide awake; he couldn't recall a time in his life when the ceiling of a hotel room had ever been more fascinating.

Well, that wasn't actually the case, but counting the tiny spots and finding little patterns in the dimly lit room kept his thoughts preoccupied from…considering _it_.

Because that's what he had been doing for hours; actually considering going to Kanto. Drew had considered leaving Hoenn unthinkable before the day had started, and now it had become a possibility he could see himself pursuing.

The rain continued to pour outside as it had almost the entire day. Heavy raindrops pounded the window producing a never-ceasing tapping rhythm.

Leaving Hoenn. Traveling in Kanto. What a crazy thought to even process.

…And now, it really didn't seem that crazy.

Solidad was so incredibly diverse and a well-rounded person; was that truly because she had traveled so much? Was it really because she had met so many people and tried so many new and different things?

She seemed to think so, and it did make sense to him. As hard as it was for him to admit…it made sense to him.

Going to Kanto to compete made sense.

And he shivered.

But why should he have been afraid? He was Drew Hayden; one of Hoenn's best coordinators. He and his team had pushed through all the odds, survived life and death situations and made it all the way to the top two in his first Grand Festival. Days before, he had never felt more confident in himself.

Why should something like going to a new place frighten him?

He'd spent the last two years traveling to new places in Hoenn, after all. Wasn't it the same thing?

And before he'd met May, he'd more or less been traveling alone; Solidad had been his only friend before that. Well, Solidad and his Pokémon…so being alone wasn't really an issue, either.

What held him back from pulling the trigger? Why couldn't he just commit?

The more he thought about it, the more comfortable and familiar the idea became. Maybe he could do this? Maybe he _should_ do this?

And then, like a bolt of lightning, it hit him.

This wasn't exclusively his choice to make.

So he called out him Pokémon. One by one, his team of three surrounded him in the hotel room.

Roselia rubbed at her eyes, Flygon shook his head and Masquerain landed on the bed, not even bothering to fly at the moment. They all looked at each other in confusion before looking to their trainer.

Drew looked at them sheepishly for a moment.

"Hey guys," he greeted them. "I'm sorry to have woken you all up in the middle of the night like this, but I need to talk to you guys about something…"

They continued to stare at him in confusion, waiting for him to speak. He took a moment, cleared his throat, and looked at his partners.

"How would you guys feel about trying something new?"

* * *

Drew practically dragged himself into the lobby to meet Solidad the next morning.

She watched him approach with bright eyes and alert energy. He looked like he was half dead to the world.

There were small bags and dark circles under his eyes; a heavy indication that he had barely slept the night before. She'd never seen him in such a state before, and it was slightly amusing. She founder herself chuckling when he planted himself next to her.

"Long night?" she pressed.

"Mhmm," Drew mumbled, rubbing his eyes a bit and stifling a yawn.

"What were you doing that kept you up so late?" she asked.

He stiffened a little bit and looked away.

"Talking to my Pokémon," he admitted.

Her eyes blazed with the mischievous smile that overtook her face. She opened her mouth again.

"About what?"

Drew rolled his eyes.

"Shut up," he said. "I need coffee."


	15. Vermilion City

**Kanto, Part One: Vermilion City** – In which Drew begins a whole new journey to become a Top Coordinator.

 **Author's notes:  
** \- A lot of people have been asking me for this, (which still surprises me because I'm pretty sure this story is trash but some of you are enjoying it…) so I'm excited that I can finally say… Welcome to the second region on our journey to pretending that our favorite coordinators actually got together, because canon has yet to confirm this. Kanto, babyyyyyy.  
\- I've been waiting forever to get to Kanto. This half of the story will be shorter, but I promise there is more to come.  
\- This chapter is pretty short, because I want to focus more on the things to come. Let's just establish that we're here and get on to the good stuff, right?  
\- Also this is another Drew/Solidad adventure chapter, I guess. But it's not based on any canon episodes so…hope you enjoy it! If not, don't worry; the next few chapters are going to get right back to the contests and most importantly...the contestshipping! That's what we're all here for anyway, right?

* * *

He could sport her pink hair, orange coat and red boots waiting for him on the docks of Vermilion City from a mile away.

Even from so far away, she stuck out.

It was nice to see her back to her old self; the last time Drew had seen Solidad had been for the funeral. Being all clad in black and barely cracking a smile that entire day had been unsettling. But now he could see her on that shoreline, smiling ear to ear and radiating the happiness that came so naturally to her.

Drew leaned on the front railing of the ferry as his eyes were fixed on the continent he was so fast approaching. The continent where he would continue to follow his hopes and dreams and resume his journey to become a Top Coordinator.

Kanto.

It was a region he'd never been to before and was almost painfully unfamiliar with. He knew Hoenn so well, because he'd spent his entire life there. The only time he'd been away was for a week vacation to the Johto region with his parents when he was five, and he vaguely remembered it. In fact, the only thing Drew remembered about Johto was that it was much cooler than Hoenn, and considering that Johto and Kanto were linked, only separated by a mountain range, he hoped it wouldn't be nearly as cold.

But the breezes were warm, the humidity was reassuring, and the huge smiling he could see on Solidad's face gave him hope. This was the right move; coming to Kanto and getting a fresh start was going to do wonders for his coordinating.

It was a whole new region. A whole new land to explore and train in and build his team and expand on every aspect of his talent as a coordinator. Kanto was more than just new terrain for him to venture into. It was a new beginning, a new chapter and a new day. It was everything he hadn't realized he'd been looking for.

The promise and excitement of a new adventure for he and his team had been slowly but surely sinking in, and now with Kanto drawing nearer and nearer, the reality seemed to be crashing into him. His excitement forced his fingers to tap impatiently on the railing as he imagined what the future would hold for him.

Four weeks as a turnaround for a contest season wasn't a long period of time. Drew knew that, and he knew it was a lot to ask of his Pokémon. They had all put in a year of hard work just to get him to second place in the Grand Festival, and part of him wondered if they truly were ready to handle the next year of training and contests so soon after the previous one had ended.

He briefly turned and looked down to his partner, Roselia, also watching the approaching shore and tall buildings grow bigger. Her eyes sparkled as she took in the unfamiliar setting, and Drew nodded while smirking to himself. Even his Pokémon were excited.

It was definitely the right move.

"Roselia," he spoke to her.

Her eyes rose to meet his and she looked as though she already knew what he was going to say. She did; of course she did.

"We're going to win this time."

Eventually, the S.S. Anne docked in the city's harbor. The ship had made a special trip to Lilycove's port, which was how Drew secured his ticket to Kanto so quickly. Had luck not been on his side, he would have had to wait another three days before the next passenger ship left for Kanto from Hoenn.

He felt as though his luck ran out as quickly as it came, though, because the S.S. Anne was a pleasure cruise boat, and still had two days before it would finally turn back towards Kanto.

The anticipation and adrenaline of a new contest season were relentless, and Drew found himself beyond bored while trapped at sea waiting for the ship to finally turn around. Still, he didn't want the whole trip to be a waste. He sent his Pokémon to the day spas and other special Pokémon-exclusive clubs aboard the ship. They deserved it, and they all seemed to have a good time when he went to pick them up.

But the waiting had ended, and automated bells signaled the passengers that the ship had finally returned to its homeport: Vermilion City.

When Drew went to his cabin to gather his things, he took a quick glimpse at himself in the bathroom mirror while collecting his toothbrush. He looked the same, but somehow, he felt different. Maybe it was the excitement of being reunited with his best friend as she patiently waited for him outside the boat. Or perhaps the air of a new region or the promise of new and exciting travels awaiting him once he stepped on the shores of Kanto. He couldn't be sure.

As the ship drew closer and close to the port, a part of him thought of Hoenn. He pondered what he would miss in the upcoming contest circuit in his native region. He had never done this, after all: he had never competed in a region that was not his home.

What challenges would he miss? What appeals would he not see? What battles would he and his Pokémon not face?

What would May do?

He had only competed against her in one contest season, but a strange feeling dawned on Drew when he realized he would not be competing against her in the upcoming season.

What things would she accomplish? What new levels of skill would she reach? What combinations would she create? Would she add new Pokémon to her team? How many ribbons would she win? Would she return to the Grand Festival?

He had no way of contacting her. His decision to compete in the Kanto Circuit had been made so swiftly he had almost no time to prepare for it. It felt like one moment, he was planning to compete in Lilycove for his first ribbon, and the next he was on a boat to Solidad's home region. And he had told her, before he left her on that beach that he hoped to see her back and compete with her at the next Grand Festival.

Hoenn's next Grand Festival. Not Kanto's. Not the one he planned on competing in now.

In truth, he hadn't thought about her much since he'd last seen her, because he didn't have time to. But now, as the promise of his new journey was so rapidly approaching him, she was all he could think about.

He wondered if he would hear about her throughout the season as he competed across the ocean away from her, and if she would hear about him. What if she made a new rival in his absence and she regarded him as more of a challenge or a better fit in her coordinator life?

And would she miss him?

Would she hold that against him? Would May be disappointed when she'd realize he'd left? Would she be upset or even hurt that he was gone without a goodbye?

…Did it really matter _that_ much?

There were so many questions buzzing around his head. Logically, he knew going to Kanto was the best chance for him to grow and learn more as a performer. He couldn't fathom all the new Pokémon he was going to come across and the ribbons he was going to win and he just couldn't deny that he wasn't excited.

Though he made the choice to go to Kanto so quickly, deep down, he felt it was right. So he pushed whatever thoughts he had about May or guilt or second guesses away.

He didn't know what the season in Kanto would hold for him.

All he knew was, he actually had a good feeling.

* * *

Her entire team was positioned next to her, ready to greet him as he'd docked and stepped ashore.

Slowbro and Pidgeot stood to both of her sides, while Butterfree fluttered about her head. Even Lapras was standing behind her small crew, waving his front fins in excitement. Butterfree immediately flew over to Drew and landed on his head, to which Drew responded with a warm smile. Drew had only seen this Butterfree twice in person, and maybe once on a phone call, but as Solidad had once pointed out, the butterfly Pokémon seemed to really like him and he didn't mind.

Drew reached up and patted Butterfree on the head before he looked back to officially greet Solidad.

"Your arms must be ready to fall off," Drew quipped, his hands back casually in his pockets while Butterfree rested easily atop his head. "You were waving for almost 15 minutes."

"That's why I switched between right and left like, four times," Solidad rebutted. "But I'm just so happy you're here. This season is going to be so great."

"You say that now but tell me again when you're cheering for me as I'm being handed the Ribbon Cup," Drew said.

Solidad only smiled, shook her head and opened her arms. Drew rolled his eyes.

"I know you hate hugs, but I don't, and I want a hug," she told him, advancing.

Drew laughed to himself and quietly wrapped his arms around Solidad for a few moments before letting go. The hug was short but sweet; Drew really wasn't one for physical contact, but for Solidad, he would always make an exception. And he missed her, so it had seemed like the natural thing to do. Either way, there was no way she would let him out of it, so he figured he'd get it over with.

Solidad took a step back and held her arms out again, motioning to the surroundings.

"Welcome to Kanto," she smiled. "Vermilion City has everything you need to get started on your journey here."

* * *

It had taken Drew and Solidad only two hours to accomplish everything they needed to do before Drew was ready for the fast-approaching contest season.

First and foremost, he went straight to Vermilion City's own contest hall and registered he and his team for the Kanto Circuit. Originally he'd hoped his Hoenn pass would qualify him, but Solidad warned him every region required different contest passes to compete.

The receptionist instantly recognized them both as Solidad guided him through the automatic doors. Her eyes lit up in excitement and Drew smiled awkwardly yet politely at her as they approached the desk.

"Solidad, it's lovely to see you again!" the woman practically chirped. "And you're Drew Hayden! It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Hayden. I'm a huge fan!"

Drew's cheeks brightened a little and he rubbed the back of his neck somewhat embarrassed; he knew he was famous in Hoenn, but knowing his reputation preceded him in other regions felt a bit strange for him.

"You're looking well, Naomi," Solidad smiled sweetly, her trademark-genuine-all-around-good-person-nature shining through as it always did. "I love what you've done with your hair!"

"Oh, Solidad, you never stop!" Naomi responded, running her fingers through her hair and laughing a little more. "I'm excited to see you compete again this season! We missed you while you were in Sinnoh; I was under the impression that you were coming to compete here last season!"

"I didn't feel ready," Solidad admitted. "But now, here I am. I can hardly wait; it's going to be a great season! But that's not why we're here."

"Oh, yes, of course!" Naomi nodded. "We can chat later. How can I help the two of you today?"

"I'd like to register for the Kanto Citcuit, please," Drew answered.

"Well Solidad has brought you to the right place!" Naomi replied. "Just let me pull your information from the Hoenn databases and we'll go from there…"

Naomi worked quickly. Her fingers flew across the keyboard of her computer as she clicked away. Through Drew's previous records, she created his Kanto Contestant profile for the contest committee. She even took Drew's PokéNav and synced it with Kanto maps, apps based on the cities and towns of the region, the official contest app of Kanto's Circuit and more. She was setting him up so fast and efficiently, he didn't even know what to do. So it startled him a bit when she spoke.

"I loved watching you in the Grand Festival," she complimented while she worked. "You were utterly amazing as you always are."

"Thank you," Drew said while Solidad silently nodded to him.

"Will you be using your same team in our circuit, Mr. Hayden?"

"Please, just call me Drew," he replied. "And yes; Roselia, Masquerain and Flygon."

"Excellent!" she cheered with a few final clicks. "All we need to do is update your profile picture and we're good to go!"

Drew and Solidad followed Naomi to a small setup a few feet away from the desk. Drew was instructed to stand against the wall; he placed his feet on the designated markings on the floor and looked forward into the camera.

"Say, 'Kanto!'" Naomi urged.

"Kanto…" Drew muttered, slightly embarrassed as Solidad giggled off to the side.

Within seconds, the ordeal was over, and Naomi was handing Drew a shiny new contest pass, still warm from the printer. Drew's image smirked back at him as he looked down at the pass in his hands.

"Thanks for helping us, Naomi, you're always great," Solidad said, breaking him from his concentration on the card.

"Thank you very much," Drew agreed.

"Just doing my job!" Naomi dismissed them. "Good luck to the both of you this upcoming season. With the two of you competing, this is likely going to be a season for the history books! Take care, and welcome to Kanto, Drew!"

Drew and Solidad both waved back at her as they exited the building. Task one; register for the season was complete, and it had been easy enough. Next up was going to be to stock up for his upcoming travels.

Solidad knew Drew hated shopping, so when he had mentioned he had a list of things he needed to buy, she promised to take him to as few stores as possible where he would find everything on his list.

True to her promise, Solidad delivered. They walked to the city's shopping district, only several blocks from the contest hall, and made quick work of the list. Having Solidad around really helped him; she knew the city and its stores like the back of her hand.

In the first store, Drew bought a few potions and berries to have in a reserve stock, otherwise known as his "in-case-of-emergency" stash. Not truly necessary, as he always took excellent care of his Pokémon, but he liked to have them if he needed them.

He also bought a few basic necessities, like a refillable bottle of water and some extra socks. He purchased a few pairs of boxer shorts when Solidad wasn't looking just to save him the teasing she'd undoubtedly provide.

Everything else like food or hygienic products were always provided in the hotels Drew stayed in; he saw no need to buy them and carry them around. It would have been a waste of time, effort and money.

At one point, they walked past a store designed for Pokémon coordinators. He peaked into the window more out of curiosity than anything else. Front and center in the window was a display of polished new ribbon cases ranging in every color, size and shape he could imagine.

Solidad asked him if he needed to go in there for anything, to which he said no.

"Shouldn't you at least get a new ribbon case?" she asked.

Drew just rolled his eyes and smirked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the engraved ribbon case Solidad had given him for his birthday a few months prior.

"Why? None could compare to this one."

Solidad smiled a huge smile and nodded.

"I didn't think you'd use it," she admitted. "I'm glad you like it."

"You think it's nice now?" he prodded. "Just wait until you see it full of ribbons."

That earned a laugh from her.

"I can't wait," she nodded. "It looks like you're all set…lunch?"

Soon after, they found themselves back near the coastal park of town, seated at an outdoor table for a bistro simply called "V." Solidad swore they made the best French dips in the entire world. And he believed her, because Solidad had done far more traveling than anyone he knew of. She knew a thing or two about foods from a lot of regions.

He ordered the cheddar French dip on her recommendation and she requested a roasted vegetable penne, which she warned him she was going to force him to try as well.

Naturally, she was right. His sandwich couldn't have been hyped up enough and he couldn't think of another that he'd tried anywhere in Hoenn than was even comparable to this one. Already stuffed from the French dip, he had to force himself to take a bite out of Solidad's penne, because he knew if he didn't, she'd bug him about how he missed out. Her dish was incredible as well; Drew made a mental note to revisit this place should he come compete in the city in the future.

In typical Solidad and Drew fashion, coffee followed their meal. Solidad opted for a white chocolate mocha latte (which was a drink that sounded so sweet, Drew thought he'd get sick just from the name), while he stuck with a simple espresso.

The coffee came swiftly and the conversation continued.

"Alright, I know you're bored with my small talk and what not," Solidad said while sipping her beverage. "Let's get to the good stuff; we're about a week and a half away from the first contest in Fuchsia City. Where are you planning on going first?"

Aw, sweet talk of preparations and coordinating.

Drew pulled out his newly updated PokéNav and placed it on the table before them, both coordinators looking over it. Drew opened his contest app and scrolled to the contest calendar option. The app seemed easy enough to navigate; save for a few color scheme changes and some items not being in the same place, the app was almost exactly the same as Hoenn's contest app. He assumed all regions ran on the same basic programing.

"Cerulean City will more than likely be my first stop," Drew focused on the date. "It's in about two and a half weeks; it gives my Pokémon and I a little bit of extra time to prepare for this season."

"New region, same Drew," Solidad nodded, browsing the calendar herself. "Cerulean is always fun to compete it. Typically you'll see mostly water-type Pokémon there, which makes sense because, well, it is a city known for water Pokémon."

"Is that so?" Drew read over the additional information provided on the calendar.

"Oh yeah," Solidad explained. "It's such an interesting story. The city's gym had a few leaders. All four of them are sisters. Three of them gave up defending the cascade badge to perform in water acrobatic shows. The fourth sister, Misty, lead the gym for a while, but decided she wanted to travel and expand her knowledge on water Pokémon.

"Now, Kanto is trying out a new system for trainers called the Battle Frontier. It's a huge deal: all the gyms have closed for a year and the Pokémon League isn't happening here this year. I think they wanted to try something different like Alola…but yeah; with the gym closed, Cerulean City's old gym was converted into a contest hall. The town's still heavily focused on water-types, though."

"It says here that this is an 'open contest,'" Drew pointed out. "What's that mean?"

"So open contests are the most common ones here in Kanto," Solidad explained. "It means you can register to compete basically up until the start of the actual contest, just like every contest in Hoenn. But here, there are some contests here that require you to register far in advance to reserve a spot. Those are the 'closed contests.'"

"Gotcha," Drew nodded, returning to the main calendar. "Any other special rules I should know about before competing here?"

"Hmm," Solidad racked her brain for a moment while sipping her coffee. "Well, there are a few contest with special rules, which I'm guessing are the ones with the red stars next to the dates, but other than that, aside from having to register with a Kanto Contest Pass, the rules are pretty much the same here as back over there. They tried to keep our circuit as close to the Hoenn one as possible, with just a few minor differences to separate the two."

"Can you give me an example of special rules?" Drew questioned.

"There aren't many contests like that, so don't worry," Solidad said. "But special rules can mean things like a double-Pokémon appeal or even a one-move appeal, like in the Grand Festival. Nothing too big or too scary."

"Oh, okay, I get it," Drew nodded, noting he should check out a special contest or two during the season, maybe even compete in one.

"You're basically all set," Solidad told him. "Just do what you normally do."

"That's the plan," Drew affirmed, reaching for his drink to take a sip. "What about you? Where are you planning to compete first?"

"Funny enough, I was thinking Cerulean as well," she quipped.

Drew swallowed a little hard. He loved Solidad; she was a fierce competitor and a good friend, but the thought of battling her right at the start of his season was daunting. She wiped the floor with him the first time they had ever battled in a contest. Maybe he could blame that loss on his horrendous lack of experience at the time, but just as he had gotten better since that day, so had she.

And as much as he wanted to believe he could take her on now, he knew it wouldn't be the best moral booster should he lose his first contest in this new region.

But he couldn't let her know that.

"Gosh, Solidad, I didn't think you were looking to lose your first contest," he challenged her with a smirk. "You do know I've grown a lot since our first match, and I don't plan on losing to you ever again."

"Oh, sounds like somebody's a little nervous," she cooed back, reaching out to tussle his hair.

He jerked back and gave her a pouty glare, as if he could defend himself from her knowing him all too well. He couldn't, but he was stubborn and he would try.

"Well, you can relax, because I was kidding," she laughed and relaxed back into her seat. "If I compete in Cerulean City this season, it won't be until later on. I want to try some of the smaller contest halls; that's where the best coordinators hide."

"Not that I was worried or anything, but where are you going to compete first, then?" Drew finally settled back into a relaxed position in his chair when he sensed the danger of Solidad messing his hair up was averted.

"I wanted to go to Pewter City first," she elaborated. "It feels right, you know? Opening my first season competing at home in my home town."

"I can't believe this is your first time competing in Kanto," Drew commented. "I've only ever competed in my home region; I couldn't imagine starting somewhere else."

"Keep in mind that coordinating is still somewhat brand new to Kanto, and it's only now that serious coordinators are starting to flock here from Hoenn and Sinnoh," she reminded him. "When I first started competing in Hoenn, we didn't even have contests here. So I just stuck around in the place contests originated, because that's where the most challenges and learning curves were. I went to Sinnoh after a few seasons there, because I needed some new inspiration, and coming back to Kanto where contests were exactly the same as they were in Hoenn didn't seem like a way to break the mold."

"I understand, I think it's just weird," Drew mused. "I mean, I think it's still sinking in that I'm here and so far away from home and it's all just new and unfamiliar."

"Drew, you're going to be fine," Solidad told him. "I know you don't like to admit that you're nervous, or honestly that you feel basically anything, but I remember being very scared the first time I ever arrived in Hoenn. Trust me when I say that this is good for you. You're going to discover a lot about yourself and learn so many news things here."

He knew she was right, and he looked her in the eye, smiled genuinely and nodded. Solidad was always looking out for him; she was always giving him the best advice and always ready to talk about contests with him and she was just the best friend he could ever ask for. He appreciated her presence in his life more than she could ever know, and if he were good at conveying sappy shit like that, he'd tell her. But deep down, he knew that she knew. And she did.

"Thank you," he said.

"Always," she said.

Drew looked up towards the sky, then. The bright blue and fluffy clouds of the Kanto sky didn't feel so foreign anymore. He never doubted that he could do this, but a part of him felt more comfortable about being there now.

"When did you plan on leaving for Cerulean City?" she asked him. "I'd stick around here for a few more days if I were you. A lot of coordinators like to flock down to the beach and train. If you look at the calendar, there will be a contest here in two weeks, so you know you'll get a good idea of the talent here if you wanted to."

"Actually…" Drew searched for the Kanto map on his PokéNav. "I was thinking I should leave for Cerulean City tomorrow. It's going to take me a few days to get there; might as well try to get there as early as possible to give myself more time to practice."

Solidad looked amused to his response. He quirked an eyebrow, prompting her to admit what she found entertaining.

"You really need to get over this walking business," she said.

* * *

"You're– you're not– doing it ri– right!"

Solidad was in hysterics. Completely and utterly drowning in her laughter. She could barely force the words past her lips through the fits of laughter she was suffering from. Her face was almost the same shade as her hair. One or two tears even escaped her eyes as she struggled to control herself as she hunched over and held her stomach.

Drew's face, meanwhile, was a full on bright red. He didn't dare open his mouth and retort, though, because that would mean less concentration on the task at hand.

He kept his gaze locked on his Flygon…beneath him. If he looked anywhere else, he'd probably slide and fall right off Flygon's back. Trying to balance was humiliating enough, but he didn't know if he would survive the embarrassment should that happen. Solidad would forever hold it against him, after all.

Flygon was doing everything right; Drew knew he was the one messing up. This is what he got for finishing all of his errands so quickly…

Flying lessons.

He knew trainers all over the world did it: rode on their Pokémon's backs to save travel time. It was the way Solidad mainly traveled. She wasn't above walking, but if she had a far enough destination, she'd call on her Pidgeot to get her there. She often told him about it; how exhilarating flying was and how she couldn't wait for him to get a Pokémon who could do it so he could experience it himself.

Unlucky for him, he'd realized he had a strong, healthy and adept Flygon who was very capable of this practice.

Solidad dragged out past the edge of town to a (thankfully) unpopulated area so they could be alone. She must have known this was going to be a shit show for him. Once there, she released her Pidgeot and urged him to call out his Flygon. It was at that moment Drew realized what she intended to do, and to his horror it was too late for him to run.

Flygon, of course, was ecstatic to give it a try. As Solidad and her partner demonstrated the art of their flight skills, Flygon practically shook with anticipation at Drew's side to give it a try. The desert Pokémon initially assumed that his trainer wanted to learn this sense they were watching his friend do it.

Now, minutes later, Flygon realized that was no the case at all.

"This–really doesn't seem safe," Drew shouted back at her, for some reason– she was only a few feet away, after all. "I'm not– strapped on or anything."

"You don't need to be!" Solidad continued to giggle at the needless terror on Drew's face. "You just need to calm down!"

Drew rocked from side to side, shifting his weight from right to left in an awkward attempt to keep a center mass. His legs were tightly pressed against his Pokémon's sides trying to give a sense of stability. Flygon gently hovered a few feet off the ground and remained steady; Drew couldn't understand for the life of him how to sit just as still as his Pokémon.

Flygon could easily sense his trainer's nerves and did his best to assure him he wasn't going to let Drew down in any way.

"You just need to–" Solidad tried again. "–need to arch your back a little and–and–hold on with your arms by leaning forward. Don't fidget so much! Your Pokémon is not going to let you fall, right Flygon?"

Flygon nodded and called out in affirmation to his trainer.

It wasn't Flygon's ability Drew was nervous about. It was his worry that he might mess up, and get both of them hurt in the process.

"You're over thinking this," Solidad called out to him, Pidgeot still at her side. "Take a deep breath and trust in yourself and your Flygon."

Flygon tilted his head backwards to meet Drew in the eyes, and Drew knew his Pokémon well enough to get the message.

"I trust you," Drew spoke solely to his Pokémon.

After that, Drew felt a little calmer, because it was true. He believed in his Pokémon. He still wasn't sure about the flying thing as a whole, nor about how often he would actually do it if he would do it at all, but it wasn't about him anymore. Just like competing and in contests, it was about his Pokémon and showing Flygon that he trusted him to get the job done.

Below, Solidad could see that Drew was calming down a little now that he growing a little more comfortable.

"See, there you go!" Solidad cheered from below him. "Flygon, take him a little higher now!"

Flygon flapped its wings in response and Drew held on a little bit tighter, though now it was more out of instinct rather than unfaithfulness. It was hard to keep his eyes open, though, and he squeezed them shut to shield himself of the knowledge of how high he was going. He wasn't afraid of heights by any means, but there was something in the pit of his stomach that just made him uncomfortable in the moment. He hoped Flygon wouldn't take it too hard on the first time they tried this.

Flygon's movements were smooth. Warm winds swept across Drew's face as they continued their slow ascent, and the air somehow tasted cleaner as they went on.

It was incredible, actually being physically connected to his Pokémon. Drew rested his head onto the back on his teammate as he worked. He could feel his Pokémon's muscles at work as Flygon gently flapped his wings and raised them through the air. He could feel a rhythm with each beat, never faltering or wavering. And in between each movement, Drew could hear and feel his Pokémon's heartbeat; an experience he'd never had before, not even with Roselia.

In those moments, Drew could tell he had formed a stronger connection with his Pokémon, and he rubbed his arms up and down Flygon's sides to let him know what he was feeling.

Flygon seemed to still and they stayed suspended in the open air for a few moments. Drew idly wondered how high up they had gone.

As if she could hear his thoughts, Solidad's voice appeared very near him.

"Open your eyes, Drew," she spoke softly.

On command, Drew raised himself up and slowly opened his eyes to see an endless open sky before him in all directions. Soft white clouds drifted past him and his Pokémon as he realized Solidad and Pidgeot had joined them in the sky. She gestured her arms all around her with a huge smile plastered on her face, and Drew's eyes followed.

The ground seemed like it was miles beneath them, but now it failed to bother him. He was reminded of his time atop Mt. Chimney back in Hoenn. He could see the whole of Kanto below, from one open ocean end to the mountain range that stood between this region and Johto beyond. He could see bustling cities and small towns. Huge forests and scattered lakes.

The whole of Kanto was before him; his next chapter as a coordinator was set right in front of his eyes, and it was oddly inspiring.

With his Pokémon and partner under him, as well as the other members of his team safely stuck to his hip in their Pokéballs, he felt a renewed sense of calmness and purpose wash over him.

In that moment, he knew he had made the right choice in traveling to Kanto. It was going to be a great season, and–

His thoughts were cut off by the sound of a camera shutter.

He turned his head to see Solidad, lowing her PokéNav and examining the shot she had just captured.

"So perfect," she smiled. "Look at you, all determined."

His face turned red, embarrassed by her affections, but never challenged her. With all she had done for him throughout the years of her friendship, he let her have this. He let her get close to him in ways no one else was. And he loved her, so much. She was the sister he'd never had.

The two friends stayed suspended in the air for a while, in a relaxed silence as the sun moved its way through the Kanto sky and inched slowly towards the horizon.

It was amazing how fast his first day in Kanto had come to pass. He felt as though he hadn't done much; shopping, lunch and flying lessons were the bigger parts of the day. And yet, here he was, sundown rapidly approaching and the promise of a new adventure right behind it.

His mind briefly thought back to a week prior, how unsure he had felt about all of this, and how it compared to how he felt now. His hesitation was in the past, and he was glad he had left it behind. He was glad he had come to Kanto.

"So what are your goals for this season?" Solidad asked him from behind.

He looked over to her confused.

"I know, I know, you want to win the Grand Festival," she laughed a bit. "But have you set any other goals for the season? Like personal goals I mean?"

"Oh, um," Drew thought for a second after her clarification. "I guess just, trying new stuff like this? Coming up with newer and better combinations would be good. I mean I gotta grow as a coordiantor, right?"

She beamed and nodded at him.

"What about you?" he asked in return. "Do you have anything special you want to accomplish this time around?"

Solidad pursed her lips and stared out at the landscape before her for a few moments. He could tell she had a new, special motivation.

"I want to be better than I've ever been," she said, somewhat to herself. "I want to dedicate this entire season to Arthur, too."

"Oh, wow, Sol, that's great," Drew praised her. "I'm sure you and Butterfree will make him really proud."

"That's the plan," she nodded, determined. "I hope we can both achieve what we've come here to achieve, Drew."

"Solidad?"

She looked over to him a bit taken back by the fire and passion she could see in his eyes.

"We will," was all he said.

* * *

It was another few minutes before the two coordinators descended.

Drew returned Flygon to his Pokémon, telling thanking his Pokémon for its hard work and promising they would work on flying some more in the near future. Flygon had seemed to enjoy the experience, and so had he, not that he would let Solidad know. It'd be a never-ending parade of I told you so were she to find out after he so strongly opposed it.

"So now what?" Drew asked. "Are you going to stay in Vermilion City tonight?"

"Actually, it's getting pretty late," Solidad said, looking down to her PokéNav for the time and turning back to her Pidgeot. "I think we're going to head home now."

Her Pidgeot nodded, and shook his feathers out to prepare for the short flight home.

She turned back to Drew, smiling sweetly.

"I'm really happy you're here, Drew," she told him sincerely. "This really is going to be a great season."

"I think so, too," Drew smirked and flipped his hair. "I can't wait to face you in the Grand Festival."

"We've got a long road to get there, but I know it'll happen," she nodded.

She extended her arms one last time, and Drew folded his arms around her for a goodbye hug. It was short but sweet, and Solidad's eyes lit up as she stepped back.

"Hey, let's take a selfie before I go!" she offered.

Before Drew could protest, because really, he hated pictures, she threw her arm around his shoulder and held her phone out in front of them. Drew smiled – embarrassingly – for her benefit, and dropped it immediately when she let go again and took a few steps back.

"Oh my Mew, look at you…your first day in Kanto," she beamed. "I'm posting this on my story; you should really get PokéSnap."

"I don't' have time for social media apps and don't intend to give the media any more ways to stalk me," Drew mumbled. "You can bask in the limelight, but I'm not really one for it."

"Oh wah," Solidad faked cried, swiftly posting the picture and pocketing her phone.

She boarded her Pidgeot, ready to take off yet again.

"You really do take a lot of pictures," Drew commented before she could take off.

With one last look back, she grinned, almost deviously, and threw him a peace sign.

"You should see the ones I took of you when you first got on Flygon."

With that, she waved back and took off, headed for Pewter City, laughing as she went seeing Drew's horrified expression. His face was burning bright red the as he watched her disappear into the skyline.

Well, no one said the season was going to be easy…


	16. Pallet Town

**Kanto, Part Two: Pallet Town** – In which we shake things up a bit, and our favorite red-clad coordinator gets a fresh start of her own.

 **Author's notes:  
** \- This is going to be a… *drum roll, please…* MAY POV CHAPTER!  
\- I know that this is a Drew-centric story and I promise that isn't changing. I just felt like changing things up a little bit for a chapter and trying to incorporate how May made the shift from Hoenn to Kanto when she originally didn't plan on it. We missed that in the canon, because she kind of just randomly pops up in Kanto at Ash's house, so let's quickly cover it here!  
\- After this, we're jumping right back into canon Drew-centric views and episodes and the contestshipping aspects of this story. If you're wondering why I've somewhat strayed from that with these last few chapters, it's because I really wanted to use this story not only to show us Drew's side in finding his feelings, but I also wanted to highlight _Drew's journey_ , and I've had a lot of fun developing his side of everything (especially his super BFF-adventures with Solidad). And in this instance, I kind of wanted to ease May back into the story, because she's been gone for a while now. But yeah, don't worry; we're going right back into the good stuff, so hang tight for one more chapter. And note that I'm exploring some of May's feelings in this one as well, so this isn't void of contestshipping by any means.  
\- Mentions of the episodes, "The Scheme Team" and "The Right Place at the Right Mime."  
\- I have no excuse for why it's taken me so long to update other than I've been so sick and constantly in and out of the hospital since surgery, that I suck and life is ridiculous.

* * *

If May was being honest with herself – like, 105-percent-completely-upfront-no-barriers-totally-openly-honest with herself – she had known she wasn't going to win the Grand Festival.

She knew _it was_ a possibility, and that it was a long shot; she knew there had been a small chance that she could have won it all. But she hadn't.

And in the moments after the Grand Festival had ended, she found herself okay with the fact that she had lost.

Not to say she hadn't worked hard all season; she poured her heart and soul into getting to as far as she had. But a part of her knew the second she got paired up with Drew, she was more or less done. She gave it her best and she completely accepted that at the end of the battle, Drew had been the better competitor. She had given it her absolute all, and it was okay.

For the moment, it had been okay.

But then, Drew lost. By the end of the festival, most of her focus had been Drew's defeat, which she found far more devastating than her own. She knew how important to coordinating was to him, and how badly he had wanted to win. It stuck with her, even after they'd had their short discussion on the beach and he'd seemed more or less okay with it all, accepting her main rival's bothered her for reasons she couldn't quite understand.

Her heart was broken for Drew, for reasons she couldn't quite understand.

But there was little time to dwell on it, as the competition her friend Ash had qualified for – the Pokémon League – came up quickly just after the Grand Festival. She did her best to put her strange sadness on hold to support her friend.

And then, she watched Ash face his loss in the Hoenn League Championship.

A striking feeling sank into May's bones as she realized that both their losses meant their time for the competitive seasons was over. The Contest Circuit wouldn't begin again for three months, and the Hoenn League wouldn't reset for two. But that didn't matter.

Ash never competed in the same league twice. He had just gone through all of Hoenn to earn the badges that brought him to Ever Grande City. He wouldn't want to stick around in Hoenn; May knew he wouldn't want to repeat everything he had done over the past few months.

Ash would move on from Hoenn, and she would be stuck waiting to repeat her own journey more or less. It was a difficult pill to swallow.

True, the contest season wouldn't be exactly the same. She'd face new and old rivals, and no two rounds would ever be a repeat. There would be new ribbons to earn and an entirely new season to tackle. She knew for sure she'd eventually run into Drew again as well, which gave her some relief, again, for _whatever reason_. He had told her he hoped to see her in the next Grand Festival, and she had a knack for running into him at contests throughout that first season. A part of her hoped her luck could stay in tack for the next season. For some reason, seeing Drew seemed like something to look forward to.

But…it just wouldn't be the same without her friends.

Her friends wouldn't be by her side every step of the way as they had been for the previous months. She doubted even her brother would want to travel with her. She knew that, though she loved her little brother, they'd drive each other insane were they to go together and alone.

The life she had known and lived for the better half of the last year was done.

And it was depressing; so, so very depressing.

Would she have fun next contest season? Without a doubt; she loved competing and her whole heart was set on becoming a Top Coordinator some day. She knew she could do it, and she knew she wanted it more than she had wanted anything else in her entire existence. Coordinating had become her passion.

And walking down the route towards Petalburg – her home – seemed all too much like the end.

* * *

Their farewell lunch had been so short, May wasn't sure it actually happened.

Honestly, she wasn't sure anything was happening; she felt like she was in a daze and that everything was moving entirely too fast. The world almost seemed to blur around her.

"You'll probably be back in Pallet Town by dinner time!" Max had said to Ash.

"Hope so," Ash replied. "No offense, Brock, but I can't wait to eat some of my mom's cooking."

"I can completely understand," Brock had laughed. "I've had your mom's food before; it beats mine by a long shot."

"No way!" Max shouted in disbelief.

She didn't understand how they all seemed so naturally cheerful. This was their goodbye, after all. Their last meal as a team. The fork in the road where they would separate was just a few short miles away from where they'd settled down.

And no one seemed to be aware that the journey they had embarked on together was about to end.

It made her sad, anxious, sick and an array of other things, but if no one seemed depressed, she wasn't going to kill the mood. She put on a brave face.

"We'll come visit sometime?" May forced the smile on her face as best she could.

But she knew full and well that Ash would probably leave soon after he'd get home, off to another region and another league championship. He'd be off on a new adventure probably before she and her brother stepped through the door of their home.

Next thing any of them knew, Munchlax was devouring their food, and Brock was forced to take out the extra food he had to prepared incase such an event should occur. Forever prepared; that was Brock.

It had only given them a few extra seconds together, but for the first time, May was glad her Munchlax caused any problems.

* * *

Ash had put his hand out in the middle of them, Brock placed his hand above, May followed and Max landed on top.

The group of friends stood a the fork in the road. It was here that the road that would force them all to go their separate ways. May and Max would make the short trek to Petalburg, while Brock and Ash would head to Lilycove to hop on the quick ferry ride to Kanto.

This was the moment May had been dreading.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

May felt as though her heart had broken when they all pulled their hands back. The moment felt so heavy to her, and she watched as her Kanto-based companions easily turned and made their way down the road. Even Max, who had grown just as attached to their little group (if not more than she had) turned away quickly and began marching on the road home.

She took a second, blinked a few times watching Ash and Brock's retreating figures, and wiped at her eyes a bit. Why didn't any of the others seem like they were close to tears?

In that moment, she could practically hear Drew's voice in her head.

 _"Oh c'mon, May, don't be so whimpy."_

It was definitely odd for her, hearing _Drew's_ voice – of all people. But somehow, the moment felt empty without Drew there as well. She and her rival hadn't really shared a proper goodbye like this, and she noted that she felt something wrong with that.

Drew had been a big motivator for her throughout her first contest circuit. Though annoying at times, and sometimes a little rude, she couldn't deny that without him looking out for her in his own weird, Drewish way, she probably wouldn't have made it as far as she did.

She remembered, more than a few occasions, pushing herself to outdo him. And the times she'd been teased by him. And fighting with everything she had to keep him from drowning in those rapids on Mirage Island. And the times he'd given her good, genuinely helpful advice. And the first time he'd ever complimented her. And the time he saved her life from Team Rocket. And the first time he'd given her a rose.

Every time he'd given her a rose.

The roses she still had - unbeknown to anyone - in her travel pack.

They were all dead, having withered from so much time and wear and tear from the journey, but she kept them. It felt wrong to throw them away. Even the ones that were "for Beautifly." They were sentimental to her; they were signs that Drew had been watching her and appreciated her best efforts. The signs that he had noticed her.

Signs that Drew had a heart, and a good one at that, despite his best efforts to hide it from everyone.

She pursed her lips for a moment.

Did she… _did she actually miss Drew?_

No way…no way! She looked forward to competing against him next season for sure, because he really did fire her up and make her want to do better, but she definitely did not miss him. Especially not now, when she had just had a heart-wrenching goodbye moment with her real friends.

The friends who were slowly getting further away from her with each step they took. Max, too, was getting a little distance as he walked the opposite direction.

It made her feel guilty somehow: to think of Drew in the moment that she was breaking away from the ones who had loved and supported her constantly throughout the last few months.

But she couldn't fight off the thoughts.

She had tons of more memories with her friends from the previous contest season, but for some reason, the memories with Drew were the ones sticking out to her in that moment. Was it because he wasn't there? Could it have been that maybe she had considered herself closer to her rival than she'd ever really given herself the time to think about? Was it because…

"May, hurry up!" Max shouted to her from yards away. "Stop being such a Slowpoke!"

May's head whipped around in his direction and a small smile graced her lips. Leave it to her kid brother to interrupt.

"I'm coming!" she responded, jogging to catch up.

* * *

"Home at last!"

They both said it at the exact same time, and Max and May both grinned at each other's perfect timing. Just another "our-sibling-bond-can't-be-broken-even-though-you-drive-me-insane-sometimes" moment for the Maple siblings. There were a lot of those.

The two Maples made sure to wipe their feet on the welcome mats right inside of the entryway. Walking the several miles to make it back home, their shoes were sure to have gathered some dirt and dust along the way, and they were all too aware of their parents' rules about tracking mud. Growing up, it was a lesson they'd learned too many times after playing outside.

"Welcome home, children!" their mother surprised them with her approach.

Their house was the same as it had always been; warm and welcoming. And their mother's presence somehow enhanced those feelings. May threw her arms around her mother as quickly as she could, trying to soak in the moment.

The moment of finally being home after such a long time away.

Yet somehow, the moment felt incomplete. It could have possibly been that she hadn't seen her father yet.

"Dad's car isn't here," May pointed out.

"No, but he'll be back soon," Caroline assured her two children. "I sent him to the grocery store to get some things that I need for dinner!"

Not much time had passed since they'd just shared a meal with Ash and Brock, but her full stomach wasn't why May found herself opposed to eating. It just wasn't going to be the same without their traveling companions. Good thing she had few hours to go before the family dinner; hopefully by then she could force herself to eat.

A few minutes later, the three Maples found themselves in the greenhouse, where Norman let his Pokémon live and play during their off time in between gym battles. Slakoth and Vigoroth looked so happy to see them, and May felt the need to release her own Pokémon team so they could enjoy some much-deserved downtime as well.

"Come out, everyone!" May shouted, lifting her five Pokéballs up in the air.

Combusken, Beautifly, Skitty, Bulbasaur and Munchlax all landed on the ground, and wasted no time in scattering around their surroundings.

Skitty, a normally hyperactive Pokémon, darted for a log bathed in warm sunlight and settled in for a nap. May couldn't recall a time when she saw her Pokémon so instantly settled. Skitty definitely loved it there, and a part of May wondered how she'd be able to get her little kitten Pokémon out of there for training sessions.

Bulbasaur timidly approached some of the flowers growing in the garden and inhaled their sweet fragrances deeply. Beautifly hovered down towards them and chirped happily as well. May knew the large variety of flora and fauna would keep her grass and bug Pokémon busy for hours.

Combusken, always up for a test of his strength, chased the Slakoth and Vigoroth through the bushes and around the trees. The three of them got along surprisingly well running through the lush greenhouse.

"They all look pretty happy," Carolina commented.

Munchlax, naturally, went after the large bowls of food placed in the open. He was devouring the Pokéfood made especially for Norman's team. Max was on him instantly for it.

"Munchlax, stop it!" Max scolded. "That food's only for the Slakoth and the Vigoroth!"

"I'll bet you're both hungry after your long trip," Caroline guessed. "So tell me what you'd like and I'll make it for you."

Her mother's kind offer prompted May to cheer, and it was genuine. May loved Brock's cooking, but her mother definitely made some of her favorite dishes. Max seemed elated, asking for a "million French fries" and whatever else. She wasn't paying attention to him.

She looed back out at her Pokémon, all keeping themselves occupied in the greenhouse and idly wondered what Ash and Brock were up to.

* * *

"DAD!" Max practically screamed the second Norman appeared in the doorway.

The three of them had settled into their living room. Caroline had turned on the television but none of them paid attention; Max was too busy filling their mother in on what had happened after they'd said goodbye after the Grand Festival, and May had been interjecting comments and stories from their travels before then every now and then.

Caroline listened intently to her two children go on and on about what they had been up to. She'd missed May and Max terribly while they had been gone, but was overjoyed to hear of the wonderful experiences they'd had. Especially May; her daughter had never liked Pokémon all that much before she'd left, and now May had blossomed into an exceptional young coordinator with a big heart for Pokémon. It was all she'd ever wanted for her daughter: to find happiness.

They were so wrapped up in their conversations, that May and her mother had missed when the door slid open and Norman kicked his shoes off. But Max hadn't, and the young boy jumped up and slammed a hug into her father with so much force, Norman almost dropped the bags full of food he was carrying.

"Hi, son, it's good to see you," Norman laughed, patting Max on the head and looked up. "You too, May. I'm glad you both made it home safely."

"Hey dad!" May jumped up, rushing to hug her father as well.

The two siblings hugged their dad, having not seen him in months. They'd barely gotten to stay in touch over the course of their being away, because Norman seemed to be busy with handling his gym leader duties constantly. But just being there in that moment, locked in a hug with their mother behind them felt great. After so long, the Maple family was back together.

"Welcome home, Norman," Caroline greeted. "I'd come kiss you but it seems our children have you wrapped up tighter than a Seviper's wrap attack."

"You can say that again," Norman laughed. "I can barely breathe right now!"

After a few more moments, May released her father, and Max let go as well. Caroline approached to gather the bags from her husband.

"Thank you for getting these, honey," she said. "I'm going to get started on dinner right now so you three get ready to wash up soon."

"What are we eating?" Norman asked.

"It's a smorgasbord tonight," she responded. "May wants ramen, Max wants hamburgers and I already have a steak ready to go on the grill for you."

"Don't forget my French fries, mom!" Max cheered. "Dad, we have so many stories to tell you!"

"I can't wait to hear them, son," Norman assured his son. "Let's sit down; my feet are killing me; the market was a madhouse today."

May followed her brother and father back to the sofas while her mother continued onward to the kitchen.

"You all take your time and catch up," she said. "I'll let you all know when it's time to eat."

"Thanks, mom," May said.

"Thank you!" Max also threw out. "So dad, I have to tell you about Ash's gym battle in –"

May was overjoyed to have her family back together, and especially to spend time with her father. She, too, felt as though she had a billion stories she wanted to share, but for some reason, she just sat there quietly and listened to her brother speak, throwing in an occasional "yeah" or "it was great" every now and then.

By the time her mother had called them all into the dining room, May hadn't said much of anything, and her father was watching her.

* * *

Dinner came and past, Max filling up the entire time with chatter.

Norman and Caroline listened with utter fascination, learning about the incredible adventures their children had embarked on within the last year. May however, found herself somehow uninterested, possibly because she had lived through it, but more likely that reliving all of her experiences in the past year only served as a reminder that there wouldn't be any more adventures with her friends.

They had promised they would all stay in touch, and it had only been a few hours since they'd gone their separate ways, but it wasn't something May was used to. She'd grown so close and so attached to the little family that her and her friends had formed while on the road.

Now sitting here, knowing those times were really over was hard. Earlier, when the end was coming wasn't fun either, but at least they had been together. Now, it was just her, her brother, her parents, and what now seemed to be her boring life in Petalburg until contests started up again.

"Are you guys done with your plates?" Caroline asked, standing up.

"Huh?" Max tripped over his words at the interruption. "Oh, yeah, thanks mom! It was great. But yeah, dad, there was this huge Slaking in Mossdeep when we were there! I bet it wasn't bigger than yours, but boy was it huge!"

"I would have loved to see it," Norman smiled, leaning back while Caroline lifted his plate.

"OH, WAIT!" Max exploded. "I took pictures of it on my PokéNav! Let me go get it!"

With that, Max burst from the room, the sound of his heavy rushed footsteps running up the stairs resounding through the room.

"I can't think of where our son got his ability to talk so much," May's father commented while scratching his head a bit. "Probably from my mother; she definitely likes to talk."

"Norman, we should have them over soon," Caroline said. "I'm sure they'll want to see the kids now that they're back home."

"That sounds about right," Norman agreed. "What do you think of that, May?"

When her name was called, May looked up to face her father. She hadn't been paying attention to the conversation all that much. Her mind was scattered to a lot of different places; what Ash and Brock were doing then, how long she had to wait to start the next contest season, even where Harley was (not that she totally cared).

Norman and Caroline exchanged a look at their daughter's confusion; Norman seemed concerned whereas Caroline looked sympathetic.

"May, honey, how are you feeling?" Caroline asked, taking her near-full plate of food.

"I'm good," she responded, a little confused. "Why?"

"You seem like you're upset about something, sweetie," Caroline pointed out.

"Oh, uh, I'm just tired," May looked back down and stretched a little for emphasis.

Before Norman could press it, Max returned, running at full speed and bounding into his chair. The force of the boy jumping nearly knocked the chair over, but Max seemed either unfazed or he just hadn't noticed.

"Okay, I got it!" Max exclaimed. "Here, dad, check this out!"

Norman politely entertained his son by glancing over a few photos the boy was showing him. But most of his attention was on May, who kept her eyes down. What was bothering his daughter so much?

Perhaps it was her loss at the Grand Festival? He had followed all of her performances during the live broadcast. She had done remarkably well for someone so young and so new to the coordinating world of Pokémon. To think that a year prior, she had hated Pokémon, and now she stood as one of the finalists in her first Grand Festival! That was something to be proud of, certainly.

Maybe what she needed was to get out and enjoy some time somewhere else so she wouldn't be stuck thinking about her loss? That would surely help, and it reminded Norman of something. His eyes darted over to Caroline, and she gently nodded at him.

"And this is from when we were in Lilycove City, over by the–" Max continued to ramble.

"Say, son, aren't you tired from your journey?" Norman suddenly stopped him, needing just a moment of silence so he could really focus on his daughter. "You guys sure did come a long way, and it's getting late. Perhaps it would be best to continue telling me your stories tomorrow?"

"Aw, but dad!" max all but whined. "There's just so much to say! I don't want to wait until morning! I haven't even gotten to the best stories, yet!"

"And I can't wait to hear them, son, but for now, it may be best to go to bed. I do have to open the gym early tomorrow."

Max continued to protest.

"May, you're not tired right?" he whined.

"Actually, I think I am going to bed now," May said. "Thank you for dinner."

"Oh, you're no fun…" Max deadpanned, but began piling his dishes.

May nodded apologetically at her sibling, bid goodnight to her family and wandered up stairs slowly. Her hand dragged on the railing the whole way up, and her parents watched with a mixture of concern and confusion.

* * *

There was a dim yellow glow emanating from the green house; both Caroline and Norman could see it seeping through the curtains of their bedroom window.

Neither of them was asleep. They both lied in bed, silently discussing the issue at hand.

"I don't get it," Norman continued. "May's never been one to be so down about anything."

"Well, except for maybe the one time with the Tentacool incident," Caroline pondered. "She held onto that for a few days."

"This is different," Norman shook his head against the pillow. "I can't quite figure it out. Maybe she's still upset over losing out at the Grand Festival."

"I don't think so," Caroline pondered. "I was there with her, and she and I discussed it the night before I came home. She was okay with it; if anything, she was more upset about her friend – what was his name again, Drew – losing. She said although she wanted to win, she gave it her all and she was proud of herself for making it as far as she did.

"I could see it in her eyes; she was genuinely okay. I can't imagine it coming back to bother her like this, weeks later."

Norman sighed and rolled onto his side facing his wife.

"You're right; this is something else," he mused.

Both adults lay still for a while, silently considering other options. Neither of them had ever seen their daughter so depressed, and neither had been so lost as to the reason why.

She'd had a wonderful few months of traveling around with her friends and brother. Every time she called to check in or update them on her progress, she'd always had her usual chipper and upbeat attitude. Nothing could damper her spirits out on the road; she was born to travel and she'd spent a whole year doing just that, while also delving into a new passion and establishing herself as a young, talented coordinator.

After such an incredible year of fun experiences and wonderful memories, how could anyone be so glum?

 _…After._

AFTER.

It clicked for both Caroline and Norman almost instantly. Caroline's eyes lit up and Norman pursed his lips.

"Her adventure is over for now," Caroline spoke slowly.

"And she has quite a while before the contest season starts up again here in Hoenn," Norman finished.

"That must be it," Caroline continued. "Her adventure was put on hold and she's missing her friends and travels."

"Not to mention, I doubt her friends will be back in Hoenn any time soon," Norman added.

"She seemed so chipper when they both first arrived home this afternoon, but I guess maybe she was just excited to see both of us after a while," Caroline said. "I think after a few hours of being here and settling down, it hit her that she's got some down time before she gets to compete again."

"She really loves coordinating, doesn't she?" Norman questioned.

His wife surprised him by chuckling softly. He eyed her from the side and could see her eyes were distant as she recalled something.

"You should have seen her at the Festival," she breathed. "And I meant really seen her; been there with her. I'm sure watching on the TV was one thing, but to be there and see her drive. It was so thrilling. She was so happy.

"Norman, May loves what she does. I can't even begin to tell you how much she has grown by pursuing coordinating. She's always loved adventure, but I've never seen someone so young have such a passion for something. She was born to work with Pokémon; it just took her a little while to find her fit. But now, she's found it, and I know she's found her niche."

Norman digested her words, thinking carefully. Was he happy for his daughter? Absolutely, but that didn't help her at the moment.

"I know, and I'm glad she's happy, Caroline, but that doesn't fix our current problem," Norman said slowly. "I don't know if you or I can stand to watch her be miserable waiting for the next contest season to start. Even Max will start to go stir crazy eventually."

"You're right," Caroline sighed. "And it's certainly not going to get her out of the greenhouse before the sun rises."

The two fell silent again, trying to think of how to handle the situation. Norman knew his wife was right; he could see it in May's eyes every time she had competed that season, and he was sure to watch every one of her contests. May had a natural gift for coordinating, and it was never more obvious than when he watched her win her first ribbon.

When he watched her accept her prize on stage, and he could see the way her eyes sparkled on the screen of the television they had been watching, he knew that his daughter had finally found her place in the world and a sense of direction in life that people even at his age didn't quite possess.

His daughter had worked hard all throughout the season. Both he and Caroline watched proudly from Petalburg as May made her way across Hoenn, collecting ribbons and bouncing back from hard losses. It was a natural fit for her, and she had more than proved that she had the capability and the grace to pursue this as a professional career.

He couldn't have been prouder of how much she had fallen in love with Pokémon, contests and life.

It was all he'd ever wanted for his first-born.

Knowing they'd have a few months of waiting before May could continue to work for what she wanted more than anything was daunting. There had to be something they could do to make the time go by faster; to help get May to the next start of the next season more quickly.

The next season.

Her next season.

And then, another light bulb went off inside Norman's brain; an option he couldn't believe he hadn't considered. He shot up in bed, wrestling out of the covers and reaching for his slippers. A jolt of energy and an idea fueled him too move all too quickly, and he almost tripped climbing out of the bed.

Contests _weren't_ exclusive to Hoenn anymore; they hadn't been for a few years.

"Norman?" Caroline was concerned, sitting up and watching him frantically reach for the tablet on their dresser.

She hadn't seen Norman move this quickly or this excitedly in years. Something was up.

"I need to search for something," he replied, unlocking the tablet and looking for the internet search app.

* * *

Five minutes had passed. It didn't take Norman long to find for the information he'd been searching for. And they'd discussed it and came to the same conclusion just as quickly.

"I think it's a wonderful idea."

"What has she got to lose?"

They smiled and both looked back towards the window, that faint glow still radiating from the green house.

* * *

Most of her party was asleep and scattered throughout the greenhouse.

Skitty had claimed a particularly high up tree branch and was curled up comfortably against the tree trunk. Beautifly had dozed off in a small sea of flowers, steadily breathing in the sweet scents which helped her drift off to sleep. Bulbasaur had passed out not too far away from Beautifly, nuzzled up in a small bush. Munchlax, naturally, had chosen to stay strategically by the food bowls, so that when the morning feeding came, he would be the first to know.

Her faithful Combusken had fallen asleep at her side, both of their backs propped up against a fallen log that sat in the middle of the greenhouse. They'd been there for a while.

May looked back and forth between all of her resting Pokémon and smiled a little. Her little family had grown so much over the course of the year, and she loved them all so much, it was almost painful.

When May first entered the greenhouse, all her Pokémon seemed confused to see her. After all, it was dark when she'd come back to see them, and they knew she wasn't there to train. Especially since she was wearing her pajamas instead of her usual attire. When she showed up with her hair down and in a pink jumpsuit covered in little Torchics, they knew something was amiss.

Something was up in the way her eyes held some sense of sadness; her partners could see that.

They all rushed to her the second she'd made it to the center of their new playground.

"How do you guys like the greenhouse?" she'd asked them, sinking down and resting her back against the log in the middle.

Her Pokémon all cheered, telling her they loved the space and all went off to point out their favorite spots. May laughed a little when she could see how happy they were. And it made her smile; if they were going to be here for a few months before the next season started, at least she knew they would enjoy themselves.

"We've got some time in between now and the next contest," she sighed.

All her Pokémon moved closer. Beautifly perched herself atop May's head, Bulbasaur, Skitty and Munchlax sat near her legs and Combusken took a seat next to her, his soft arm rubbing against her. She looked at all of them gratefully.

"Thanks, guys, but it's okay," she told them with a sad smile. "Just know that when next season does come along, we're gonna give it our all!"

They all cheered; they all gave her happy and determined smiles and chirped words of affirmation and encouragement. How May ended up with such a great team, she never would know.

Slowly but surely, they all scattered throughout the shrubbery, only Combusken remained by her side.

Her starter Pokémon was determined not to leave his trainer when he could tell something was off.

He poked her gently with one of his claws, prodding her to talk to him. While he couldn't communicate in a way she could understand, he wanted her to know he was still there and that wasn't going to change.

Still, he knew there wouldn't be much. Combusken understood his trainer very well. A passionate girl with the drive to win more than any others he'd seen. It was what he respected about his trainer; her strong will and even stronger sense of self.

She only looked down at him and shook her head, that strange off smile still in place.

"You don't have to stay right here, Combusken," she told him. "You can go play with everyone else if you want."

His only response was to nudge closer to her side, and she laughed a little.

She wrapped her arm around her first Pokémon, and reminisced about when he was just a little baby Torchic.

Oh, how much they had both grown since their first days together.

* * *

May could hear the door to the greenhouse open, and she sighed. She knew it was only a matter of time before her mother noticed her in there and came to check on her. After all, that was what her parents were like– the most caring and loving people she's ever know.

She craned her neck backwards to greet her mother.

"Hi, May," she was surprised to see her father slowly approaching.

Without warning, her father's Vigoroth dashed to his side, and Norman smiled down at his Pokémon. He produced a few small treats from his pocked, and held them out.

"Share these with the others," he stated, handing them over to his eager Pokémon. "You know I don't usually give you treats this late, so I'm trusting you on this."

May watched the scene. Vigoroth nodded intensely and rushed off into the shrubbery as quickly as he'd appeared.

With nothing standing between them, May's father continued to approach her. She rose to her feet when he made it to her, careful not to disturb Combusken's sleeping form.

"Thought you were going to bed, kiddo," Norman reached out his hand and patted her on the head.

"I was," May admitted, smiling and ducking out of the way to fix her hair. "You know I hate when you do that."

"What, this?" he reached for her head again, and she swatted at his hands, laughing a bubbly laugh that made Norman laugh as well. "You used to love it when I would rustle your hair."

"Yeah, when I was like, six, maybe," she dodged to the side.

"Those were the good old days," Norman sighed. "When Max didn't have as nearly big a vocabulary and both my kiddos were always home, waiting for me to get off work so that we could play together."

May frowned a little bit, looking around.

"Well, we'll both be here for a while considering that the next contest season doesn't start for a few months," she said.

Norman's arms fell back at his sides, and he watched his daughter for a moment. That brief moment of happiness had been so fleeting, and while he was thrilled May was here – because he'd missed both his children terribly while they were gone – he knew she couldn't stay there forever. She was growing up, and as much as he hated to admit that as a father, he knew it was something that had to happen. Forward can't be stopped, after all.

"So what's up?" he finally asked. "Why so down, sweetie?"

May tensed a little, and flashed her brightest, fakest smile.

"Nothing!" she chirped. "I just couldn't sleep so I figured I'd come hang out in here for a little while and see how my Pokémon were adjusting to Petalburg. I'm okay, dad, and I'll go back to bed in a few minutes."

"You were never good at lying when you were little and I think you're even worse at it now, May," Norman rolled his eyes and shook his head with a smile playing on his lips.

May frowned.

"It's not a lie," she mumbled, averting her eyes.

"You should really stick to coordinating, kiddo," Norman commented. "You're much better at that than fibbing. Not that I condone fibbing ever, but especially not to me, or your mom. I'm you're father, May. I think I can tell when there's something wrong with my daughter."

May sighed, and still refusing to meet his gaze, she spoke.

"I just can't believe the season's over."

Norman nodded, encouraging her to continue with his silence.

"It's like, I finally find something I love to do, and I'm somewhat okay at doing, and I finally start to like Pokémon, and it all just flew by," she said. "I know there will be more chances and I know I'll get to compete again soon, but it just feels wrong staying here, you know? Like there's so much more out there I haven't done; so may battles I haven't fought and so many combinations I have yet to try and so many ribbons I haven't won.

"I was so happy whenever I was on stage, just me and my Pokémon showcasing what we were good at to the world. And knowing I have to wait so long to feel that way again is tough. I have to wait to see all my friends and rivals again at contests and it kills me knowing that. It sounds kind of petty but…I don't know. I just can't accept that it came and went so fast."

May's hands had balled into fists, and after a few more moments of silence, she finally looked up at her father to see if he had been paying attention.

He had a strange look on his face; one that May had never seen before. It was a mix of empathy and sadness and so many things. It was the most understanding look she'd ever seen, from anyone.

For some Arceus-known reason, her brain decided to remind her of the look Drew gave her that night on the beach, after the Grand Festival. When they stood on the beach together alone, and he told her how well she had done and how much effort he knew she had given her.

Why, in those moments, her brain flashed back to that, she didn't know. She shook her head a little, telling herself she just wanted to relive the season. It had nothing to do with Drew specifically.

Her attention was brought back to her father when he cleared his throat a little.

"I think you forget that at one time, I was your age, on my own journey as well," he told her. "I remember the dread of the off season, when the leagues were closed for a few months and I couldn't stand the thought of having to wait to get back out there. To have that chance to prove myself and show the world what my Pokémon and I could do. Post-season depression is a real ugly thing, May, and a lot of trainers and coordinators feel it. I'm sure your friend Ash feels it, too, when he finishes a season.

"I have watched you grow, not just this past year, but your whole life. From that first day you came into this world, your mother and I have always wanted the best for you, and for you to live a life you created for yourself. You've found that in coordinating, and kiddo, I'll tell ya I'm the damn proudest father in the world having been able to see your successes throughout your first year in this.

"You found something you were 'okay' at? Wrong, May; you are a _fantastic_ coordinator, and this is definitely something you were made for. But I'm right there with ya; I hate knowing that you have to wait to do something you love so much."

May's eyes were bubbling with tears. Norman saw this, and slowly extended his arms out, inviting his daughter in for a hug. She gratefully accepted, and threw herself at her father, squeezing him tightly and silently thanking him that he understood when she was afraid no one else would.

"Your mother and I were talking about this a few minutes ago…" Norman continued.

May looked up at him, confused, her arms still secured around him.

"May, if this is something you truly believe you want as much as we know you do, we agreed that it's time you expanded your horizons a little bit."

"What do you mean, dad?" May asked lowly.

He smiled at her. His beautiful baby girl in his arms. In the moments, he could remember the first time he held her in the hospital.

 _The nurse gently placed the squirming baby into his arms. He couldn't believe it. He was finally holding his own daughter. He didn't think it was possible to be so in love with anything._

 _"Arceus, she's so small," he spoke in amazement. "She's so perfect."_

"Yes, she is," Caroline agreed from the bed a few feet away, peaking over fondly at her baby.

 _The two new parents couldn't stop staring at the tiny infant. She'd come about two weeks early. They weren't expecting her until the first week of June._

"We have to settle on a name," Caroline sighed in content, leaning back against the pillows of the bed. "It has to fit her."

Norman stood slowly, making his way to the bed and laid next to his wife, the baby drifting off into sleep only moments after she'd first opened her eyes.

"What name could ever describe this small bundle of perfection?" Norman thought aloud.

"Well, we can't name her perfect, that's for sure," Caroline laughed softly as Norman handed the baby back to her mother. "It sounds too vain."

"Can't help it if we made a perfect kid," Norman shrugged with a smirk. "But what could possibly fit for her?"

"What about May?" Caroline suggested.

"May?"

"May."

"I actually like that," Norman smiled. "May. It fits."

"Our beautiful little girl, May," Caroline cooed. "Oh, May, you're going to do so many wonderful things."

Norman couldn't help but agree.

And true to that day, she had. She had accomplished so many amazing things for someone so young. Her talent and her ambition knew no ends, and Norman could see that since day one.

"Kanto's contests start next week, May," he informed her. "Your mother and I think you should go there and compete."

"Wha– what?" May could hardly believe what she was hearing.

Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think she would get the opportunity to travel to another region to compete in contests, much less have her parents' blessing. Traveling in Hoenn was one thing; it was home and she 'd been through it all dozens of times, traveling with her family for her father's gym leader obligations. It made sense that her parents felt comfortable with her traveling around in her own back yard, and she was never too far away to get their help if she needed it.

But a whole new region? A place she'd never been to before? It was…it was crazy! It was insanity! It was…appealing?

A new contest circuit. A fresh new start she wouldn't have to wait for. A chance to show even more of the world what her Pokémon could do. And another chance at taking home a Top Coordinator title.

The more she thought about it, the more her heart began to soar.

Kanto.

It made sense.

"You deserve the chance to keep on living your dreams," Norman told her, wiping away a stray tear that had cascaded down her face. "You need to go."

"But–but how will I get there?" May almost whispered, the hope in her heart brimming over.

"Your mother and I have already taken care of that," Norman explained. "Your ferry is going to leave at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning. I'll be dropping you off at the harbor. Everything is taken care of, May. You just need to decide if you want to do this or not and–"

"OF COURSE I WANT TO DO THIS!" May shouted, the biggest, watery smile plastered on her face.

Norman couldn't help but smile and maybe choke back a few tears himself. The pure elation in his daughter's eyes was proof enough that she needed this, and that he and Caroline had made the right call.

With her shouting, all of May's Pokémon stirred. They made their way to the father and their trainer's emotional hug. May heard the sounds of them approaching, and turned to face them with a huge grin.

"Guy!" she practically sang. "We're hitting the road tomorrow and we're going to compete again!"

All of May's Pokémon cheered along with her. Skitty and Beautifly seemed a little less excited, but they still shared in the joy nonetheless.

May fell to her knees as all her Pokémon hugged her.

Norman's heart swelled at the scene.

* * *

May had never run faster in her life.

A smile on here face and a heart full of dreams, she sprinted down Route One, trying to get to Pallet Town as quickly as possible.

This place, this region, it was so different from Hoenn.

And it was so beautiful.

Pokémon she'd never seen before fluttered and rummaged about around her. Was that a Nidoran? That was definitely a Staryu in the pond she'd passed. And that wonderful display of hanging Kakunas! They glistened in the sunlight as they carefully dangled from the trees.

Kanto had an abundance of Pokémon that were exclusive to the region, and she knew it. Seeing them all first hand, living in their natural habitat was exciting to her; a land full of new Pokémon and new possibilities. She wondered which type of Pokémon she could catch and compete with first.

So many incredible opportunities awaited her here.

She still had about a day's journey before she could make it to Ash's hometown, but the adrenaline kept her running.

She'd never felt more alive.

* * *

It was nearing mid afternoon in Petalburg, and there was a feeling of stillness at the Maple household.

Max now sat in the midst of his parents' greenhouse, May's Skitty in his lap.

He stroked his sister's kitten Pokémon and starred blankly at the other Pokémon playing about. May's Beautifly hovered a few yards away, inspecting some of his mother's flowers and singing about. Max sighed wistfully as Skitty purred in his lap, soaking up the attention and loving it.

These two Pokémon were the ones May left behind.

Well, they weren't the only ones she'd left behind.

She'd been so brief in her goodbye and it hurt his heart. Sure, he fought with his sister a lot, but he really admired her. He looked up to her. He loved her.

And now she was off to Kanto, to travel around and compete in contests without him traveling with her, like they had been over the last year.

He finally understood that weird sadness May seemed to be feeling when they'd first gotten home. Suddenly the realization that his adventures were over hit him, and the absence of his sister hit him even harder. Now he was trapped in Petalburg, with only May's two Pokémon as a reminder of her missing presence as well as a reminder of the fun they'd all had over the last few months.

He tried not to cry; he really, really did. He tried as best he could, because he was a big boy, and big boys were tough and didn't cry.

But soon he saw a few tears spill onto his arms, and a few sniffles escaping from him.

"It's not fair," he said weakly, drawing the attention of the confused Skitty. "Skitty, it's just not fair that she left us here. And I know you really like it here in Petalburg and in mom and dad's greenhouse, but I just want to go with May to Kanto. And watch her compete in contests and tell her how lame she is for leaving us both behind…"

He stayed there for a few minutes, gently shaking and working to keep the hysterical sobs trapped within him at bay. Skitty tried to rub her head up against his chest in a comforting manner, meowing to him that it would be okay. He appreciated it, but it didn't feel like enough. It just didn't feel right to be there.

Not after everything he'd been through in the last year.

Max couldn't be a trainer yet, and he still had another few years before he would be old enough to register for any region leagues, or owning a Pokémon. Hell, he couldn't even get a pass for contests if he wanted to try that like his sister.

It was his dream: to become a great Pokémon trainer and have his own incredible adventure with friends and compete in a league and eventually conquer a league and take over a gym.

He knew he could and would do those things eventually, but eventually had never seemed so far away.

But adventuring with May and their friends for the last year made it seem all the more closer, like his goals and ambitions were just around the corner. It made him feel like he was his own trainer, living his dream on a journey with his friends. And the experiences he'd had and lessons he'd gathered along the way were invaluable to him. Not being in Kanto and not traveling anymore meant he would miss out on so much.

He wouldn't get to see Ash take on battles and help him plan strategies for his matched. He wouldn't get to see May perform on stage and think on her feet at whatever her contest battles would throw at her. He wouldn't get to see Brock continue to learn about the art of Pokémon breeding and have Brock teach him things as they went along.

It was gone. All of it was done. And Max felt as though he was going to explode, when suddenly…

"Hey son," Norman's voice called out from behind.

Max hadn't heard the door to the green house open, and his father's voice startled him. He jumped a little, and Skitty pounced off his lap, looking between the boy and his father.

"Oh, um, hey, dad!" Max hurriedly answered, hastily wiping away at the tears on his face so his dad wouldn't see he had been crying– big boys definitely didn't cry. "What's–what's up?"

Norman raised an eyebrow at his son's back. Max had refused to turn around and face him with the usual enthusiasm he'd come to know and love from his son. He just sat there, frantically moving his arms and keeping his spot on the ground. It didn't take any effort to deduce from the crack he'd heard in Max's reply to figure out his son had been crying. His youngest was visibly upset and Norman knew what he needed to do.

"Well, I came to ask you that, actually," Norman replied softly, taking a seat on a log next to where his son was sprawled out on the grass.

"Oh, not much," Max replied lamely, still trying to dry that last embarrassing tear drop. "Just, you know, spending time with the Pokémon."

"Right, right," Norman nodded.

He waited a few moments for Max to turn around. Skitty, no longer receiving attention, pounced her way up into the nearest tree, basking in the morning sun's rays. When Skitty reclaimed its spot, the boy finally – albeit slowly – turned to face his father.

"Did you have any plans for today?" Norman asked carefully, not addressing his son's apparent sadness.

"No, not really," Max looked back at the Pokémon scattered throughout the greenhouse. "I was thinking maybe I could give the Pokémon baths today. Now that May's not here to help, someone's gonna have to pick up the slack."

"Sounds fun," Norman nodded, smirking a bit. "But I think I might have something that would interest you a little more."

"Huh? What?"

"Well, it turns out that Professor Birch needs to go to Kanto to hook up with Professor Oak for a research project," Norman baited, watching his son's eyes grow big. "And he told me he's gonna need a little help…"

Max gasped; the chance of being an important role in helping the famous Professor Birch was all too tempting for him. Think of all the things he could learn to help him when he started on his own Pokémon journey in just two years! The two Maple children had visited their father's professor friend numerous times, but aside from May receiving her PokéDex, they'd never been asked to _help_ him out with something.

"He was wondering if you'd be willing to go with him on this little trip," Norman continued.

"OH WOW DAD, REALLY?!" Max exploded. "CAN I REALLY GO?"

"Of course, son," Norman smiled. "Professor Birch is coming to pick you up in an hour. So you'll need to be ready to go when he gets here."

"Oh gosh, dad, this is so awesome!" Max cheered. "Thank you!"

"But there is a catch…"

Max's eyes fell a little, confused and a little apprehensive.

"I need you to do something for me while you're in Kanto," Norman requested.

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Max perked up again. "Anything!"

"Now, your mom and I know that your sister is capable of taking care of herself…"  
Max's eyes widened.

 _No way…_

"And we want her to enjoy her journey and her contests…"

 _Is he saying…_

"But, then we got to thinking…"

 _Do I get to…_

"May's not going to have anyone at her contests to cheer her on…"

 _Is he about to ask me to…_

"So we think it'd be best if you went along with your sister and continued on your journey as well."

"DAD, NO WAY!" Max burst into a new round of tears. "ARE YOU FOR REAL?"

"Yes, son. You're mother and I decided this would be best for the both of you, and as long as you want to go, we want you to have the same opportunity as your sister."

"But what if she doesn't want me there?" Max asked, the dreadful thought invading his mind. "She was so quick in rushing out of here and she didn't even say she wanted me to go with her…"

"I think your main concern right now should be packing up, son. Professor Birch will be here in 56 minutes. We'll talk to your sister when you meet up with her in Pallet Town. You just need to get ready to go, and you should probably bring–"

Norman's words were effectively silenced when he son slammed into him, knocking the breath out of his lungs and zipping out of the greenhouse and into their real home without another word.

Norman rubbed his chest and laughed a little.

"I don't remember teaching Max tackle attack."

* * *

"Don't forget now, you've all got goals, so work hard to achieve them!" Professor Oak said.

"Right!" The group had responded. "We will, professor!"

May couldn't believe it; in less than her first 24 hours in Kanto, she'd been reunited with Ash and her brother. She'd talked to her parents on the phone and told them she was more than happy to have Max back with her again. She'd met with Misty, the girl Ash had spoken of often and was dying to become friends with. May was also chosen to be the trainer of a rambunctious and adorable Squirtle, who seemed more than eager to join her in the contest circuit when she'd decided Bulbasaur would be happiest if he stayed at Professer Oak's lab.

And best of all, she had been given the opportunity to travel with her friend and brother again.

It was just like old times, and it was almost perfect. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Brock was there. But beggars couldn't be choosers, and she was more than satisfied with the way things had turned out.

She almost couldn't sleep that final night in Pallet Town.

The group all ended up as Ash's house, and had agreed to leave the next morning. Misty was going to go with them until she got back to her home town.

The seconds ticked by in the dark living room where she and Max had camped out on the floor in sleeping bags. The room almost reminded her of Petalburg; it felt warm and homey.

May was counting the ticks from the clock on the wall. The minutes passed so slowly and all she wanted to do was see the sun rise so they could all get going.

The new region and new promises of adventure awaited.

She tossed and turned in her sleeping bag, letting out a huff that she wasn't asleep yet.

"Hey, May, you awake?" Max whispered.

"Yeah, I am," she whispered back. "I can't sleep; I'm way too excited about tomorrow."

"I know, me too," Max agreed, rolling on his stomach, propping himself up on his elbows and facing her.

"I can't believe we're here," May mirrored his actions.

"I can't believe mom was okay with letting us come here!" Max laughed quietly.

The clock struck a chord, and began to play a vibrant tune, followed by a series of dings. Max and May counted the chimes until they got to 12.

"Ugh, it's only midnight," Max whined. "We're not leaving until nine…"

"Probably more like 10," May agreed. "I'll bet you $10 Ash sleeps in."

"You got it," Max reached out his hand.

Their hands met in the dark and shook a few times before they pulled back.

"We really should try to get some sleep, Max," May sighed, rolling back over on her sleeping back.

"I know," Max yawned.

A silence fell back over the living room. May kept her eyes closed, but her brain was still pumping adrenaline and keeping her awake. Why oh why couldn't it just be time to go, yet?

"Hey, May?" Max whispered again.

"Yeah?"

A pause.

"I think you're going to do really awesome this season."

"Thanks, Max."

His breathing evened out a few minutes after that, and May realized that Max had finally fallen asleep. She hoped the same thing would happen for her soon.

But his small words of encouragement played over in her head, and she smiled in the dark.

She had a good feeling about the season.

She had a good feeling about Kanto.


	17. Viridian Forest

**Viridian Forest–** In which our two favorite coordinators are finally reunited and renew their rivalry against each other in something in a different kind of contest.

 **Author's notes:  
** \- Welcome back; let's ship.  
\- Not wasting any time here; I can bore you guys with bullet points later. Let's just ship, damn it.  
\- Based on the episode, "On Cloud Arcanine."

* * *

Drew felt as though he was on cloud nine.

Everything was going so perfectly in Kanto that it felt surreal. He couldn't recall a time he'd felt this positive in a contest season, and the season had only just begun.

His first contest in Cerulean City had been a breeze. True to Solidad's word, the town had been overrun by water Pokémon, and he was certain he's entered the only grass-type in the entire contest. His petal dance and magical leaf combination appeal had scored highly, because not only had it been astounding to watch, but also because it was the only non-water-type appeal. His rare, Hoenn-based Roselia stood out more than she usually did, and he almost slapped himself it had been so easy to advance to the battle rounds.

Inside the locker room, he'd had a few coordinators approach him, asking if he was _the_ Drew Hayden – the well-known coordinator and second place runner up from Hoenn's Grand Festival – and if he really was competing in the Kanto Contest Circuit in the new cycle. His bored replies of "yes" and "I am" seemed to intimidate his competition. But he wasn't bothered by it; this was one of the first contents of the new season, and it was bound to be plagued by rookies and newcomers. That always happened.

Drew continued to sail through the contest from there. He hadn't broken a sweat in his two battles trying to earn that ribbon. In the first match, Roselia all but wiped the floor with her opposing Kingler. Bubble beams and water guns failed to even stand up to her attacks; he won the match with just under four minutes remaining, both knocking out his opponent _and_ draining all his points away.

In the final battle, he faced a girl named Tasha. She had shown so much promise in her appeal and first battle, but when it came time to step up to the plate, her Vaporeon couldn't withstand the solar beam Roselia fired off. Drew had won his first ribbon without much effort.

Solidad had also won her first contest in Pewter City, and they'd talked about it the night afterwards, both celebrating their first victories and congratulating each other's Pokémon via video calls and traditional coffees. The contest had been Solidad's chance to debut her Butterfree, and from the live feed Drew had tuned into, her new Pokémon partner had looked and performed stunningly. It didn't seem like it was a first-time performance; Butterfree and Solidad could have been partners for years and there wouldn't have been a difference.

He recalled their discussion from that night, when Solidad's Butterfree seemed so happy to see him, and how he told Butterfree that she had looked amazing in her first contest, and he couldn't wait to continue watching her go on throughout the season.

Solidad questioned him on his next plans, whether he'd seen any top-notch coordinators so far, and even if he knew where May was competing.

It had been a few weeks since he'd seen his red-clad Hoenn rival, and he didn't have any ways of getting in touch with her, so he just shrugged and told Solidad that May had stayed in Hoenn.

"What did May think when you told her you were coming over here?" Solidad had inquired.

"I didn't actually tell her I was coming here to compete," Drew admitted. "The last time I saw her was before I decided to come here, and I actually told her I had planned to compete in Hoenn again…"

"Oh."

Solidad had seemed disappointed for some reason, but dropped it and they moved on into their plans for their next contests. May had not been brought up again since that conversation, but she forever stayed in the back of Drew's thoughts.

Yes, the season had been off to a marvelous start; Drew was loving Kanto and the feelings of excitement competing again.

But it was very, very early on in the new circuit's season.

Drew knew better than to expect the rest of the season to be so easy, but for the moment, he was elated to know his Pokémon were just as fired up as he was, that he and his team would only grow stronger from there and that his loss in the Grand Festival just under a month prior hadn't affected him or his abilities to compete. A small part of him had worried once or twice that it would happen.

His confidence had been restored, and he found himself at an all time high of optimism for the season.

He'd figured he'd head on over to Saffron City next; he'd known a contest was coming up, and it seemed to make sense. Solidad had told him she was off to compete over on Cinnabar Island. He'd wanted to make his way over there eventually, but he still had so much of Kanto's main land to see.

Saffron City it was, then.

He took a moment to admire his first Kanto ribbon for a moment before carefully placing his case back into his pocket.

In addition to his excellent first win, he'd also found inspiration in the new and different Pokémon he had seen. Kanto was filled to the brim with Pokémon he'd never encountered before in Hoenn, and it got him thinking it was time to add a fresh face to the team. After all, his team was composed solely of Pokémon from his home region; he needed a little variety and the new creatures of this land had shown promise.

Okay, new Pokémon first, Saffron City after.

Initially, he couldn't settle on what type of new Pokémon he wanted to catch. He scrolled through a list of known Pokémon of the Kanto region on his PokéNav, and a few caught his eye, but he didn't feel truly excited about one, or like any of the ones he'd seen would fit into his style. After researching for an hour, he resolved to just find one out in the wild. When he'd found the one he wanted, he would know. That was how he'd come to partner with his Flygon, after all, and his Flygon had proven to be a marvelous Pokémon for him.

He's rationalized that as long as he was heading in the direction of Saffron City, the thick forests and open grassy plains he'd traverse through would have been a good start for him to find a new Pokémon.

That was how he'd found himself in the middle of Kanto's Viridian Forest.

He'd happened upon a seemingly older man chopping and gathering firewood outside of what Drew assumed to be his home in the middle of the forest. He was hulky and huge in appearance. His hair was gray, and he had a thick beard that extended all the way down his chin. The man wore an all brown suit and looked a bit sweaty from the effort he was expelling.

He seemed a little intimidating to approach, but he decided it was better to approach him rather than try to sneak by and avoid verbal confrontation. There was no way he could go undetected without rifling through the forest, especially when they'd made eye contact.

 _Oops._

Drew was surprised to see someone had lived out there in such a remote place. The man also seemed equally surprised to see a young boy traveling alone. He had assumed Drew had gotten lost trying to find the popular bakery that operated out in the lonely woods.

"Are you looking for the cake shop?" he'd asked of Drew when the coordinator had first approached. "You're not far from it; it's just down the road here, and I know it's a cake shop, but you should really try their coconut cream pie! I tell everyone that."

"Oh, no sir, I'm not looking for cakes or anything like that," Drew smiled politely. "I'm just out here seeing if there are any rare Pokémon. I'm a Pokémon coordinator from Hoenn."

"Ah, like those contests?" the man pondered for a second. "That's interesting. All the way from Hoenn, huh? Haven't been there in years, but I remember it fondly from a few work trips. Anyways, I can tell you about the Pokémon that live out here if you'd like. I'm not sure if they're what you're looking for, but then again, I don't know what it is you're looking for! Have a seat, son; my name is Bryan."

"Thank you," Drew nodded, sitting in the chair offered to him.

Bryan produced a detailed and seemingly handmade personal map of the forest surrounding them and began explaining the topography to Drew, who listened intently. The woodsman spoke of tons of bug types, and a few grass types that were common to the area. What Drew had gathered was that mostly hoards of Oddish and Weedle thrived in the area. It wasn't really what Drew was looking for, and he had just started to think maybe he'd come to the wrong place.

"There is an Arcanine that's been running around here lately…" Bryan offhandedly commented.

That instantly grabbed his attention. Drew had never actually seen one before…anywhere. An Arcanine; it was a powerful and gorgeous Pokémon, considered by many to be legendary. Drew had heard stories of the dog Pokémon, known mostly for it's unfathomable speeds and strong fire attacks. He could only begin to imagine the possibilities of having one on his team… He'd be unstoppable.

"An Arcanine?" Drew questioned.

"I don't know why it's been coming down from the mountains more often lately; not really the place you'd see one of those things typically," Bryan continued, pointing at his map. "But it likes to hover around this natural spring for water and this grove of pecha berry trees. I reckon if you'd hang around either of these spots, or wander up into the mountains, you'll see it sooner or later. I'd recommend the berry trees, though; it really likes to hang around over there; snacks on a whole bunch of them every day. You'd think that Pokémon was eating for three with the amount of berries it can put away."

With a rush of energy, and the potential to capture such an incredible Pokémon, Drew practically jumped out of his seat.

"Thank you so much, sir; you've been a great help," Drew bowed respectfully.

Bryan bid Drew a polite farewell and wished him luck in capturing Pokémon and entering contests.

That had been hours ago, and how Drew and Flygon ended up hiding in the bushes, both keeping a faithful watch over the open patch of ground surrounded by trees bursting with ripe pecha berries. The lush trees surrounding the meadow were packed with countless fruits, and it was no mystery as to why any Pokémon would want to feed here. It was a perfect berry-filled oasis.

They'd gone over their plans to capture it several times. Arcanine was a Pokémon known to be speedy, so once they sighted it, they would charge straight in. Give it less of a chance to escape, and it would more than likely make a stand against Drew and his Pokémon. Drew knew with absolute certainty that his Flygon could take it down. He hadn't even laid eyes on the Arcanine, but he knew Flygon was tough enough.

Then, it was a waiting game, but a game that didn't last.

It wasn't long before said legendary Pokémon appeared. Just as Bryan had said, a huge Arcanine appeared from the bushes, standing up on its back legs and swatting at berries to make them fall. The heart-shaped fruits rained down all around then, and Arcanine snatched them off the ground one-by-one.

It was time. With a quick glance between he and his Flygon, the two nodded, perfectly in sync, and jumped out of the bushes to ambush their target.

"Arcanine!" Drew boomed, his Flygon hovering above him.

The startled canine Pokémon jumped, turned to face them and looked them over quickly. It growled at the two of them and slowly began to step back. Its look of confusion and fear only lasted for a brief moment, and was now replaced by a look of determination and aggression.

"Flygon, quick, let's get him with flamethrower!"

Before Flygon could even open his mouth to shoot off the flames, the Arcanine showed off its speed, and took off before the two could even blink. They watched the retreating Pokémon bolting away before Drew's brain processed what was happening, and started chasing after it.

The hunt had begun.

* * *

"ARCANINE!"

Drew had shouted the name over and over again, chasing the Pokémon down with everything he had in him. His faithful Flygon flew right above his head, waiting for an order from his trainer to strike. Drew held his tongue, though; he knew the Arcanine was gaining ground, and any attack now would most likely miss. He had to be closer.

But something in his gut told him to take the shot. Both Drew and his Flygon were falling behind, and this might be their only chance for a while before he could find the Pokémon again.

"Go, Flygon, flamethrower!"

To Drew's amazement, his dragon's attack nearly clipped the Arcanine. The accuracy was there, but Arcanine was much too swift. It bounded on its back legs and pivoted in the air, and before Drew could fully process the motion, it fired back at his Flygon with its own powerful heat wave attack. Flygon thankfully was able to dodge, and the two started their mad sprint at the Arcanine again.

 _Closer; we have to be closer._

As if out of nowhere, a group of people came into view. Drew spared them a millisecond of a glance, as the entirety of his focus was set on that legendary Pokémon running in front of him. Nothing else in the entire world mattered except him capturing that Pokémon and–

There was a flash of red.

He passed by so quickly, so focused on that speeding blur of a beautiful Pokémon in front of him, that he almost missed it.

But it was a flash of red; unmistakably and undeniably a flash of red, drifting within a sea of forest greens and other people standing in an orderly line. He'd recognized it almost instantly, and for the moment that flash of red took his breath away more than the Pokémon he had spent the better half of the day sprinting at his top speed after.

He swore he had felt his heart speed up, and it wasn't from all the dashing he had done.

Suddenly his legs felt a bit shaky. It must have been all the running; the weight of keeping that pace up for so long surely was catching him now. That was it; that was definitely why his legs were suddenly ready to stop. He pushed himself past the end of the line of curious onlookers before things got out of hand.

His beautiful Arcanine bolted out of his vision, using its extreme speed attack to gain velocity and make a clean getaway, and Drew skidded to a halt, knowing he wouldn't catch it then. How could he? The Pokémon was running so fast, it was almost impossible to see, leaving only a large dust cloud in its wake. It had been pretty disappointing, but there would be more opportunities later, though; he wasn't leaving without that Pokémon on his team.

"It got away…" Drew couldn't help but shout, slightly frustrated.

If he hadn't had his doubts, and fired off the order quicker, Flygon's flamethrower might had hit its mark, and the battle could have gone down right then and there.

Drew stared at the settling dust for a few moments, trying to calm his breathing down and cursing himself. It wasn't Flygon's fault he missed, and the desert dragon Pokémon in question landed by his side carefully, seemingly out of breath as well.

The two stayed silent for a few moments; Flygon seemed to slow his own heart rate faster than Drew could his own. _How strange_.

Then there was the matter of turning around…

Drew knew they were watching him. He could almost feel their stares on his back as he claimed the last few seconds of calmness. He knew once he turned around and saw _her_ , because it was undoubtedly and surely and definitely and totally 100 percent _her_ , everything was going to change. So he braced himself and straightened his back, inhaling one last deep breath. He wiped at his forehead just to make sure there wasn't any sweat, and cringed when he found a bit on his sleeve. How wonderful his appearance must have been after all that running; he tried not to think about it.

Drew knew what he was going to look at. He mentally prepared himself to see the girl he had feelings for; the girl who had unknowingly changed him in so many ways both in and outside of coordinating; the girl he'd never stopped thinking about after he left her in Hoenn; the girl he had come to see and respect as a rival.

The girl he had realized he had missed…

He could do this; he had seen and spoken to and been around May dozens of times, even after the whole 'I have feelings for you oddly enough' thing came to be; why should this instance be any different? It would be fine; he just had to say hello and be on his way. After all, there was a Pokémon to catch.

So he finally shoved his right hand in his pocket – subconsciously to check for a rose, which he didn't have any of, _darn_ – and turned to face her and her friends…

It didn't matter what Drew had told himself in his head, because there was nothing that could have prepared him for seeing her face for the first time in what felt like eons.

She was staring straight at him. From the few yards that separated them, Drew and May's eyes instantly connected the second he focused in on her. Her sapphire pool eyes watched him curiously; her mouth parted a little, obviously just as surprised to see him there as he was to see her.

And she was beautiful, just as she had always been.

May's big, blue eyes shining in the Kanto sun, her hair swaying gently with the small breeze that rustled the air around them, a slight dusting of pink her cheeks…or was he imagining that? She stood perfectly still as she watched him. He felt as though he should go to her in those moments, because it looked weird to just stand there and stare, and he began slowly taking uneasy steps towards her.

But just as he opened his mouth to speak to her, he noticed the people with her.

Her friends.

 _Oh, right; her friends are right beside her_.

Suddenly the moment felt uneasy for entirely different reasons. Drew shoved his hands in his pockets and focused all his effort into straightening out his facial expression, hoping he didn't look as dumb as he felt. The shock gnawing at the inside of his stomach wouldn't settle and he had a dreadful feeling it might be obvious. They all watched him as he and his Flygon got closer, and he wondered what they were thinking. Still, he kept his stroll casual and his face expressionless.

His eyes fell right back onto May as he planted himself before them.

"Only an amateur would ask a question like that, May," he found himself saying, which was good.

That was the natural Drew he expressed to the world, and he didn't dare let May or her friends see him as torn up as he actually was. As he had approached, she seemed to turn her focus on the Pokémon that had dashed passed them, and Brock was filling her in on extreme speed.

"I didn't know you were in Kanto here, too, Drew…" May pointed out.

The question stung him a little, because he had wanted to point out the same thing to her, but it just seemed like it wasn't the right opportunity with her friends all hovering around her. Deep down, he would have loved to tell her that he was elated that she was there, most likely to compete in the region's contest circuit or at least that was what he assumed. He could have been wrong. But saying things like that wasn't something Drew Hayden was known to do, and his reputation was everything. He wanted her to know that whatever she was there for, he was still dead set on being the best…but he was curious, and thought up a way to ask her why she was there.

"Real winners can never resist competition," he informed her, flicking his hair out of his eyes for good measure. "That does make me wonder why you're here?"

A little rougher than he'd intended, but it was the best and most Drew-like he could do. And his question sparked some fire in her. The fire he loved.

May's hands shot to her hips, and a small glare took over her face.

"Can't you try to be polite?" she demanded.

Okay, maybe he went too far, but he knew she would ask about his progress so far if they kept going, and he loved to see her face when he showed her his ribbons…

"I guess that means you've come to enter the Kanto Grand Festival, too, huh?" Brock observed.

"Well more accurately, I'm here to win it," Drew corrected with a well timed eye roll for added emphasis.

"You're a lock for most annoying, but I'm winning the festival," May taunted him, giving him the perfect opportunity.

He smirked, reached into his pocket and pulled out his custom ribbon case.

"Yeah?" he retorted. "Think so? Check it out."

 _Click_.

Drew's index and middle fingers pressed down on the lock button, releasing the latch. Both outer sides of the case flapped open and revealing to the group the Cerulean City ribbon he'd won just under a week prior to their meeting. May's gasp made him smirk just a little more.

"Is that a genuine Kanto Contest ribbon…?" May squeaked out.

"That it is," he confirmed, closing the case and placing back inside his pocket for protection.

"I still haven't won a single one of those…" she whined.

That didn't surprise him; she clearly hadn't been in Kanto for very long. Drew and Solidad watched every contest in the region religiously. Both regarded the process as a part of their contest training. It gave them both the opportunities to scan the competition of the region as well as draw inspiration for new appeals and etc.

"Well of course you haven't," Drew said, not intending it to be an insult.

Drew had seen every contest in Kanto that season so far, and that was how he knew May had not competed yet, and also why he was so surprised to see her there at all.

In the back of his mind, the nagging sensation of why he was there in the forest was starting to come back to him. With the shock of seeing May and her group dying down, he remembered the Pokémon he'd spent all morning chasing after, and suddenly, he felt as though talking to the group might have been a distraction. If he was going to catch that Arcanine, he needed to go.

He could see and talk to May later, most likely at an upcoming contest...

"I'm on my way to catch that Arcanine now so I can continue winning my way through Kanto," he informed them, beginning to turn away.

"For your information, I'm gonna catch that Arcanine!" May surprised him by saying.

He stopped halfway and looked back at her; her determination and undying will to beat him was hyping him up. The thrill of competing against her was coming back, and he could feel it in his fingertips. She wanted this to be a challenge? Fine by him; after all, she was his rival.

"Love to see you try, but I hate to see you humiliated," he fired back.

"I'm gonna show you!" she growled, stepping forward with her fists clenched.

He took that as the sign; the chase was back on, and now he had even more of a drive. He loved it.

"Let's go, Flygon," he said back to his Pokémon, and then clarified "Let's go get that Arcanine!"

With adrenaline coursing through him, and the excitement of both a new challenge against his rival, he took off, not able to contain the laughter that fell from his lips.

* * *

Thanks to the help of Bryan, Drew knew at least several points that Arcanine could be. His ledge was prime hiding territory.

He and Flygon had gone over several plans with different alternatives. What they should do when the Arcanien appeared, how they should position themselves for minimal escape potential, what to do if Arcanine made a run for it. There were several outcomes they were anticipating, but the bottom line was this: when Arcanine appeared, strike fast and strike hard.

And unbeknownst to her, May was actually quite vital to Drew's plan.

There was the grove of pecha berry trees, which seemed to be the most obvious to avoid, seeing as Drew and Flygon had disturbed its feeding time earlier that morning. There was little to no doubt in Drew's mind that would be the sure fire bet to locate Arcanine. But there was also no doubt that May and her crew would be there as well, because it was the most obvious choice.

It took him no time at all to decide to avoid the pecha berry trees. There'd be too much going on with both he and May trying to capture it, and he didn't need the distractions all around. Besides, he knew May wouldn't be able to capture the Pokémon there. No way.

The second option was the natural spring Bryan said the Pokémon loved to drink from. It was also a strong possibility for running into his prized Pokémon. With all the running Arcanine had been doing, it would definitely need to hydrate sooner or later. His digital map even told him that he wasn't far away from the site, but he had his reserves.

May's friends were definitely going to help her capture the Arcanine, and Drew suspected they would either split up, or would all end up there together anyway. Again, Drew didn't need to risk trying to battle with and against May to capture the same Pokémon; it would have been way too difficult.

So Drew found himself hiking up in the mountains, overlooking Viridian Forest and looking for signs Arcanine had been there.

Various tufts of orange fur seemed to confirm to him what he suspected: he was in the right place to find Arcanine. This was clearly its habitat, and the more he looked, the more patches of fur it shed appeared, or various claw marks on trees. This was the best spot. And he hatched a plan.

Surely after May and her companions chased Arcanine throughout the forest for a few hours, it would grow tired and eventually retreat to its den or wherever it lived up here among the steep cliffs. Then it would have no chance to run; Drew would corner it along a ledge, and he and Flygon would finish the job.

Drew had found both he and his Flygon the perfect perch for watching out over a stable platform of stone right near a cliff. The space should provide ample room for a final battle between he and Arcanine, should it have come to that. And with only two narrow paths to escape (one of which he would block, and the other which his Flygon would guard), there was no way Arcanine could escape so easily. It was perfect.

It was also nice knowing he could count on May's group to tire it out, and unknowingly help him capture the legendary Pokémon they were both after.

May…

She was there. May was in Kanto with him. And she had made it clear she was there to compete in contests.

His mind was flooded with memories of her.

He remembered meeting her on the beach in Slateport, almost a year to the day. How he taunted and teased her and laughed at her dreams of becoming a great coordinator when all she had was a pretty Beautifly, a silver wind attack and Frisbees. Back then, things were so different; she seemed to have no potential, and he didn't believe in her at all.

He recalled her face when she lost that first content; how defeated and dejected she had appeared, and how he was so certain she would never try entering a contest ever again. But she had surprised him, and after Robert had defeated him for the first time, she promised him that she wasn't going to give up and was going to win when they faced off again. Though she hadn't yet made good on her promise to beat him, she did hold up her vow to continue on in contests.

From there, his mind jumped forward to when she'd won her first ribbon. How impossible it had seemed that she could achieve such a feet, and how she'd proved herself from that point on. Earning ribbon after ribbon until she qualified for the contest that only the best of the best could enter. It seemed like that had been a lifetime ago: when he would laugh at the thought of May qualifying for the Grand Festival. And then he watched her prove him wrong, time and time again.

Then came the unstoppable thoughts of their time together on Mirage Island, where everything he ever thought about her had changed. His very perception of her role in his life was ripped to pieces. She'd gone from the girl he'd laughed at in contests to the girl he'd…liked? Admired? Respected? There was a word that seemed to fit, but he couldn't pick it out. He'd never been able to.

But she had proved to him that she was a plethora of things that day. And he wanted to discover all of them. He'd felt more drawn to her than any one else in existence. She was May, the enigma coordinator who had surprised him more than a few times.

And then, how could he not reflect on their battle at the contest circuit's biggest stage? The way they danced through their semifinals match, giving him the greatest Pokémon battle he'd ever had the honor of participating in. He could remember just how hard his heart had been hammering in his chest, from the moment they met on the field to the way she maneuvered into his defenses, and chomped at his points bit by bit while he did the same to her.

When he thought he'd left her in Hoenn, and that he wouldn't compete against one of his biggest sources of inspiration last season (if not his biggest), he'd been at war with himself about it. He'd never admit it, but knowing he was going into a season without her seemed like it would be boring. Solidad would have been there to keep him on his toes, and who knew what other coordinators he'd encounter in the brand new region, but the thought of not having his rival to compete against made the season feel empty somehow. Like it wasn't going to be as good as it could have been, or like not having her physically there to watch him accept his ribbon cup would have made it less meaningful somehow.

He'd spent his first few weeks almost agonizing at times over the fact that he'd never told her that he was going to Kanto, and how simply boring the season could have been without her there to mix it up in the ways only she could.

Now, here he was, his heart beating in odd rhythms knowing she was there, and all his worrying about her not being there had been pointless.

She had a wonderful habit of surprising him in the best ways. And her being in Kanto to compete against him had been the best surprise of them all so far. He couldn't wait to see what would come next.

Drew's thoughts were abruptly cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps. He jumped up from his spot and focused his gaze on the path below, expecting his prized Arcanine to appear. Instead, it was none other than May and her friends, and he almost rolled off the cliff.

"Right there is a good spot!" Ash pointed to a large rock the four of them could hide behind.

"It's definitely a good spot to stay out of sight," Brock complimented. "Arcanine won't see us behind that boulder if it passes this way."

"Okay!" May chirped, a tiny Squirtle in her arms; Drew filed away the new information that she'd captured a new water type. "Let's hurry!"

The group took their places behind the rock, each fixing their gaze on the trail. Drew snickered to himself; like he was going to actually let them take his place. Still, he couldn't exactly jump out and tell them he'd been there first; any commotion might scare away Arcanine should it be approaching. He'd just have to wait until the right moment presented itself.

Minutes passed, and there were no signs that the Arcanine was coming. Waiting was definitely boring, but it was the most important part of the hunt. Drew knew this, and May's group seemed to understand this as well, until May's younger brother started complaining. Sitting still apparently wasn't a fun activity for an eight-year-old.

Drew focused on listening to their conversation.

"So tell me again why we're up here?" Max wondered, clearly a bit bored.

"'Cause this is our last chance," Ash informed him.

"The old woodsman said Arcanine likes to come up here," Brock explained, indicating to Drew that the group had also spoken to the man he'd met earlier. "So if it does, we'll have it cornered on the ledge with nowhere else to run."

"And with no more distractions like pecha berries, what could possibly go wrong?" May expanded, also tipping off Drew that there had been a few failed capture encounters for May and her friends.

Well, at least that meant the first part of his plan – May tires out the Pokémon – had taken effect. Now it was just a matter of Arcanine showing up…

As if on queue, Squirlte's attention quickly shot to the left of the group, and the four of them followed his gaze down the path. Drew also turned. In the distance, they could all see the Arcanine slowly walking up the way.

 _Finally._

"There it is!" Brock whispered frantically to the group.

The incredible legendary powerhouse Pokémon in question strolled lazily over to the cliff, overlooking the scenery for a brief moment. It probably needed a moment to rest, seeing as it had spent almost all day running. Drew's eyes went back and forth between Arcanine and his rival, seeing who would react first.

"Go get it, May!" Ash encouraged her.

She nodded excitedly, hopped up from her crouched position, and made her way to face the Arcanine face on with only a few yards of distance between her and the Arcanine, and a tiny Squirtle as her offense. It was a cute Pokémon, but no way could it stand up to the challenge that Arcanine brought.

It was time to step in.

"So Arcanine, this time you're not getting away!" she boomed.

Just as Arcanine had turned its attention on her, Drew leapt off his own perch and landed gracefully in between the two, his back to the coordinator in red. May gasped in shock and her friends cried "oh no!" in unison. He smirked with his back turned to them. Worth it.

Arcanine seemed just as stunned as May did to see him. He didn't waste time.

"Go, Flygon!" he ordered, his Pokémon floating down at the ready.

"What are you doing?" May demanded from behind him. "I was here first, Drew!"

Something about her voice compelled him to turn around and face her. The moment should have been all about capturing the Pokémon he'd been hunting all day, but he wanted to see her face. Maybe because it had been so long since he'd seen it. Maybe because there had been a part of him wondering for weeks how long it would be until he would have gotten to see her face again after he'd left Hoenn. Maybe he just flat out wanted to look at her.

Maybe he wanted to remind her that he was always striving to be better than her, because she was his rival.

Whatever the reason, he did turn. He halfway faced her, keeping himself ready for anything Arcanine might throw at him while also giving May his signature smirk.

"Hardly; I was up on that ledge since this morning," he explained.

Arcanine saw the opportunity with both coordinators' divided attention. It used its powerful back legs to spring over the group; it even cleared Flygon's height with its ease. Everyone watched in amazement as it sailed over them and began scaling the extremely step cliffside until it was out of sight.

May seemed to mourn behind him, sighing and moaning to herself while her Squirtle also cried. She took a second to compose herself and turned to face Drew with an angry stare.

"Great," she directed at him. "Thanks to you, Arcanine got away and now neither one of us has it!"

But it wasn't getting away that easily. Not anymore. There weren't many places Arcanine could be going except straight to the top, and he knew it.

"Please," Drew scoffed. "Like you ever had a chance of catching it anyway."

"How dare you, Drew!" she exploded. "If you think you're so great, let's have a battle right now to see who goes after Arcanine!"

Now that intrigued him; a quick side battle against May's new Pokémon could give him some good insight as to what he should watch out for with her water type this season. That, and just the sheer prospect of battling her was always enticing to him. Of course he was going to say yes.

"Ha," he flicked his hair for good measure. "I guess a little warm up practice won't hurt."

With his final taunt, May curtly asked Brock to officiate, to which he agreed with a somewhat scared smile and hands raised. Apparently May's friends knew not to mess with her when she was fired up. Brock took a spot in the middle while May marched over across from Drew, and turned to face him head on.

It had been over a month since their incredible battle at the Hoenn Grand Festival in Slateport, and Drew's heart pounded a little bit harder, hoping for a match that caliber to match this one.

May nodded over to her friend, and Drew did the same, signaling they were ready.

"Let this one-on-one Pokémon battle begin!" shouted Brock.

Neither of them moved for a second, and Drew raised an eyebrow.

"I'll give you the first move," he clarified to May, because it was the gentlemanly thing to do, after all.

"You'll probably regret that!" she threatened. "Squirtle, start with tackle!"

Squirtle threw himself towards Drew's Flygon with great speed. Her little turtle Pokémon sailed through the air, clearly just as determined as she was.

His eyes rolled; May had to have known that was a poor call. She was more than likely blinded by her anger to actually think out a strategy. Tackle against a flying type? Please.

"Why'd she start off with that?" Ash wondered aloud.

"All Drew has to do is…" Max seemed to be reading his thoughts.

"Go, Flygon, fly!" Drew called easily.

Flygon effortlessly flapped its wings and raised itself up high in the air. May's Squirtle went sailing right underneath him, missing his target completely, and May growled to herself, realizing her mistake.

"Very good," Drew calmly praised his Pokémon. "Now why don't you show us all a beautiful steel wing?"

Flygon barreled through the air just like he and Drew had rehearsed and his wings began to glow a bright white color. He locked in on his target and began his rapid descent.

"Dodge it, May!" Max cried to her.

"What am I gonna do?!" May thought aloud, panicking. "Use your bubble attack, Squirtle!"

It was clear May's nerves were extending out to her Pokémon, and that they had very little practice together. Drew observed that the pair had a lot of training to do before they could successfully compete together in a contest.

In a fearful and futile effort, May's Squirtle began frantically waving his arms and shooting off a straight jet of bubbles, which Flygon easily dodged without Drew having to tell him to do so. With one of his glowing wings, Flygon slammed straight into Squirtle, launching him a few feet back. The little Pokémon rolled and landed close to May's feet and burst into tears. Clearly it was a young Pokémon.

May rushed over to the tiny turtle and lifted him up into her arms.

"I'm sorry about that, Squirtle," May apologized and gently kissed the top of his head, seeming to calm the crying Pokémon down a great deal.

Drew was more or less disappointed in how quickly the battle between he and his favorite competitor came and went. He'd expected more, but then again, the bond between May and her Squirtle was too weak. He should have known it wasn't going to be all that great.

"You really left defenseless there," he commented dryly. "I didn't even use a full strength attack."

He could have stayed there all day and made snide comments, or given her more advice on what she'd done wrong, but he'd remembered why they were there in the first place, and how Arcanine had been given enough time to run. He needed to move if he was going to corner that Pokémon once and for all. There would be all the time in the world for teasing May later.

"Flygon, let's hit the road!" Drew called out, and the two began tracing the steps of the Arcanine up the mountain.

He ran right past Brock, who seemed surprised to watch him go so quickly, but didn't pay him any attention. He was now solely focused on capturing his Arcanine and ending this crazy race. Nothing was going to stop him or slow him down anymore, not even May's yelling about not being done with the battle from behind.

No, absolutely nothing would stop him from catching his–

 _Arcanine?  
_  
There was nothing there; no Pokémon met them at the next ledge up when they'd all seen Arcanine retreat to. They all stopped and looked around, curious as to where in the hell that Pokémon could have gone.

"Arcanine came up here and somehow it just disappeared?" Ash pointed out.

He was right. Drew scanned the walls around them and saw nothing. It was as if somehow, the Arcanine vanished. It made no sense. The only way the Arcanine could have gone from there…was up.

The Pikachu that belonged to Ash started pointing up. All of the trainers followed to the top, where they could just make out the top of Arcanine's form.

 _Perfect_.

It hadn't gotten away again. At the very top of the steep mountain, there was no way Arcanine could escape this time. Just a short distance separated Drew from his prized…

Growlithe?

His eyes focused on a little of small Growlithe, eating the pecha berries Arcanine was retrieving from its pelt. It drowns the sweet berries down for the babies to eat, and suddenly, things made a lot more sense.

Neither Drew nor May had never seen baby Growlith before, and they watched someone entranced by the intimate moment. A mother caring for her children, feeding them and ensuring their safety.

"Arcanine," May breathed.

"And little ones," Max filled in.

"That explains why it was so interested in food!" Brock deduced.

"It has kids?" Ash pieced together.

"So I guess it must have figured it needed to come down the mountain more often to gather food for them," Drew finished the train of thoughts.

They all watched the peaceful scene before them for a few more moments. Unbeknown to Ash, Brock and Max, May and Drew were both slowly coming to terms with the fact that they wouldn't try to catch this Pokémon.

That's when the giant net descended from somewhere in the sky, and captured all of the baby Growlithe. Arcanine reeled from the shock as the next pulled her babies away from her.

"HEY!" Drew exploded, his eyes following the net to reveal the people he had come to dread more than any others in the world. "Just what do you think you're doing?!"

Then came the horrendously cheesy speech Team Rocket had given on more than one occasion. They recited the tired lines to the group from the safety of their hideous Meowth hot air balloon.

"Team Rocket, let those Growlthie babies go!" Ash yelled.

The bad guys looked confused by his demand, and looked down onto the ledge to see Arcanine – their real target – was still free, and they looked angry at the fact that they had kidnapped the wrong party. Drew felt a chill run up his body, seeing that these people intended to kidnap Arcanine even though it clearly had a liter of puppies. They were disgusting, and he was once again going to thwart their plans.

He just needed the right moment.

Arcanine took the initiative and shot out towards the next, trying to rescue her puppies; a situation Team Rocket was clearly prepared for, because they shot another preloaded net and captured Arcanine, too.

"How nice of Arcanine to simply surrender," the pink-haired one, whatever her name was (Jessibella, Jessie, Jessica – something like that, he couldn't remember, because she'd used several different named throughout contests she'd cheated and competed in) cooed from above.

"Now we have a complete matching set!" the purple-haired James agreed.

"So let's make like a match an blow out of here!" the Meowth lamely joked.

Instead of letting the babies go, their plans clearly changed and they intended to make off with the whole family. They started to drift away, and Drew shared a quick look with his Flygon, who was ready. They just needed the right moment to strike. What he didn't realize was that May was watching for the right moment, too.

"They can't get away!" Ash said, knowing all too well he and his Pikachu couldn't do much without hurting the captured Pokémon.

His Pikachu chirped angrily in agreement.

Team Rocket made it over to the edge of the forest, where they hovered over trees. A softer landing spot for the Growlithe and Arcanine, Drew was about to call out an order when May surprised him.

"Drew," May called to him.

They shared a brief look, and Drew could see in May's eyes she was just as angry as he was.

"Try and stop them with Flygon," she told him.

"Yeah, right!" he agreed it was the best opportunity to minimalize damage. "Flygon, let's give them steel wing attack!"

Flygon screeched, and rocketed over to the balloon, using it's razor-sharp glowing wings to slice a hole into the balloon.

"Let's go!" Ash said quickly.

They could hear Team Rocket's screams as they drifted down into the forest, and the group wasted no time in springing into action. They all raced down the mountain, practically sliding down the steep slopes as fast as they could. May and Drew led the charge. Flygon flew faithfully at Drew's side, and May kept her arms wrapped tightly and protectively around her Squirtle.

The two coordinators happened upon the balloon wreckage, and much to their elation, Arcanine and her puppies seemed perfectly fine; still trapped inside the next, but unharmed.

Looking up at the trapped Pokémon, a sense of dread seemed to settle over Drew. This was his fault, for attracting attention to the Arcanine and her family in the first place. He looked over to May, who appeared to have the same thoughts written on her face as she stared up at the net. Seeming to sense his look, she turned to Drew, and the two looked at each other for a few moments of silence.

Without warning, May suddenly smiled at Drew, and he smiled back, understanding.

They would fix this together.

May's friends caught up with them, and seemed to be preparing for the fight that was not their own.

"We got 'em!" Ash said, Pokéball in hand. "Let's go, Brock!"

"Right!" Brock concurred, raising a Pokéball of his own.

"Wait," May said to them, breaking her gaze with Drew and turning to face her friends. "Let Drew and I finish it up this time."

"Yeah, since we were the ones who started this whole thing off," Drew said, smirking back at them.

Brock seemed to understand quickly, and smirked back at the two. Ash took another second before he conceited, but looked more than happy to let them take care of their business.

Drew turned his back to them, and once more faced Team Rocket with May by his side. His Flygon hovered next to him, waiting for orders.

"C'mon, Flygon, we gotta rescue Arcanine," Drew told his companion. "Steel wing the net!"

Flygon approached the captured Pokémon and charged up his attack, but gently delivered the blow, slicing the next open and allowing the Pokémon to escape. The family bounced to their feet off the ground, and Arcanine was instantly inspecting her babies, ensuring no harm had come to them. She then barked to them, instructing them to escape and hide. The Growlithe complied, and the family ran off to hide allowing May and Drew to handle business from there.

Team Rocket watched in horror as their stolen Pokémon got away.

Now that the Arcanine and her puppies were safe, there was no need to hold back. Both sides realized this.

James released his Cacnea, who went in for a quick yet painful hug to its trainer. Drew remembered how the same thing had happened on Mirage Island, and scoffed. Just like then, they didn't seem like such a threat anymore.

"Turn around and attack them!" James begged.

Cacnea did finally turn around, sensing the threat and launching a powerful pin missile attack. Glowing streaks flew towards them, and May jumped in.

"Squirtle, bubble attack!" May called, throwing her Squirtle up into the air.

The tiny Pokémon and May finally seemed in sync, and Squirtle was able to launch a spray of bubbles that disbanded the oncoming spikes. A great defensive move, if Drew was being critical.

"Not bad," he complimented her quick thinking.

"Wait 'til I really get going," May threw back at him and with a smirk.

Drew smirked for a second longer before turning back. Arceus, was she amazing, especially in moments like that. He'd have to show her some of his tricks, now…

"Well I wouldn't chalk up the victory yet if I were you!" Jessie called out, trying to ruin the moment. "Dustox, poison sting!"

The Dustox burst from its Pokéball and began firing a rapid assault of poison needles. Flygon was at the ready, and Drew countered.

"Bring it down with flamethrower, now!" Drew quickly remarked.

Flygon charged up and released a hot burst of fire, shattering the poison sting and thwarting Team Rocket's offense again. The two thieves seemed to be getting frustrated and desperate, but there was no way in hell Drew and May would let them win.

Drew could hear May's companions commenting from behind them.

"Yeah!" Max cheered on the display.

"Those two are a great team!" Ash acknowledged.

"Even though their styles are different, they work well together," Brock said.

They were right; when Drew and May worked together, they seemed unstoppable. The realization made Drew's ears burn a little, but now wasn't the time for that. Especially when James was calling for another attack.

"Don't give up, Cacnea!" James encouraged. "Use your sandstorm!"

A powerful tornado ripped open onto the battle field, and Drew couldn't help but laugh. James obviously didn't realize that he was against a Flygon, often called "the desert spirit." His dragon thrived in the environment James had just created. Thought Squirtle seemed to be struggling in the raging winds, Drew knew what he had to do.

He ordered his Flygon to shield May's Squirtle from the storm, and Flygon happily complied. Squirtle seemed confused for a moment, but soon grasped what was happening, as did May.

"Thanks for that, Drew!" May smiled.

He nodded.

"Well, ready to finish this up, May?" he asked.

"Yeah," she complied. "Squirtle, hop aboard Flygon!"

Flygon bent forward a little, and Squirtle hopped on, The two jumped into the air, Flygon easily soaring through the sandy winds as Squirtle shielded his eyes a little bit. Drew smirked to himself; his famous "Dragon Formation" technique was reserved for Flygon and Roselia, but somehow Squirtle seemed just fine.

His Flygon broke through the barrier of the sandstorm, and waited in the clear for a moment while Squirtle rubbed the last of the sand out of his eyes. With the moment of recovery, Flygon began his descent towards the enemy, targeting Cacnea with Squirtle aiming for Dustox.

"Jump off, and tackle it!" May ordered.

"Flygon, follow with steel wing!" Drew added.

Squirtle slammed into Dustox, and Flygon barreled right into Cacnea. Their two opposing Pokémon were throw back into the hot air balloon's basket with Team Rocket. The group seemed stunned for a moment, and the two coordinators took the initiative to strike their final blow.

"Now for the knockout!" May encouraged.

"Flygon!" Drew called out.

"Finish it with–"

"Water gun!"

"Flamethrower!"

Squritle mounted onto Flygon's back once again, and the two released the opposing attacks at the same time. The powerful jet of water rode side-by-side with the stream of fire, ultimately combining into a powerful vortex on impact. The pressure of the two attacks combining was so great, an explosive rocked through the surrounding trees. Drew shielded his own eyes and stepped slightly in front of May, who ducked behind him and held her ears with her eyes shut.

The smoke cleared, and the two coordinators stood back up straight, examining the scene before them. Team Rocket had been sent flying, nowhere to be seen. Drew let out a relaxed sigh, flicking his hair. Another day, another foiled Team Rocket plot. Though it wasn't how he'd expected the day to go, he couldn't deny the sense of pride he'd felt surge through him every time he'd been a part of stopping the crooks in their tracks.

And the attack combination both he and May had pulled off! It was intriguing; he'd never seen a combination of fire and water before, anywhere. Not in a contest, not in a trainer battle, nothing. He'd always thought it was impossible, seeing as water cancelled fire attacks out. But that was special, and he couldn't believe how well it had worked together. How well he and May had worked together.

Fire and water…what appeal it had. Their opposing attacks had looked quite rugged, and pretty unrefined, but the fact that they were so strong together was incredible. Drew would need to see if there was a way he could successfully fuse fire and water and somehow use it in a contest. Forever the coordinator.

"We did it!" May clasped her hands together and rejoiced. "We beat 'em!"

"This wouldn't be the first time," Drew smirked at her, and she nodded gleefully. "We've beaten them together, before."

"You're right!" May chirped. "And if they come back, they better hope they don't run into us again! We make a pretty good team, Drew."

He pursed his lips and nodded, feeling his face heat up just a little more and more. They did make a great team, and it made his stomach do little flips to acknowledge how great they worked together.

Thankfully, before his face could betray his thoughts, Brock cut in.

"Hey guys, let's go check on Arcanine and her Growlithe," he proposed, looking back in the direction they'd escaped to.

"Right!" Ash agreed.

"Where do you think they ran off to?" Max questioned.

"It's a safe bet they went this way," Brock said, pointing.

Her friends all turned on their heels and slowly made their way down the path to locate the legendary and her puppies. Drew and May followed a few feet behind, walking next to each other. Brock appeared to be digging through his bag, looking for some supplies. He pulled out a few potions and even some medical wrap. Drew raised an eyebrow, and May noticed his confusion.

"Brock is studying to become a Pokémon breeder," May explained to him. "He's always concerned for other Pokémon's health and is always ready to help an injured one."

"That's nice," Drew hummed, walking down the path and finding how comfortable it was to be next to her.

Drew had always preferred to travel alone, but in those moments, it was nice to walk next to her. And converse with her. And to just be with her.

What an odd yet pleasant feeling.

* * *

It took them almost no time at all to locate Arcanine and her babies. They'd only gone a few short yards down the trail back to the mountain.

When they'd approached the family slowly, Arcanine gave off a warning growl, but Ash's Pikachu took the initiative and began speaking to the family, probably explaining they were there to help. With the reassurance, Arcanine seemed to calm down.

Brock bend down and examined the young Pokémon, and confirmed to the relief of the group that they all seemed okay. He moved on to Arcanine, who aside from being a little tired from all the running and hiding, and the being temporarily captured, she was alright as well. Brock told her she'd been taking very good care of her Growlithe, and she barked happily, proceeding to lick her puppies clean. Brock laughed and backed up slowly.

The gang stood there for a moment, admiring the beautiful Pokémon for a few more moments.

"There it is," Ash whispered to May. "So, did you change your mind about catching it?"

"Yeah," May confirmed to Ash, then turned to Drew. "Go ahead."

Drew blinked for a moment, confused.

"As much as I think I could win with it, I don't want to break up a happy family," he explained.

Drew couldn't even stomach the thought of catching this Pokémon anymore. May had seemed to come to the same mutual conclusion. No contest, contest ribbon nor ribbon cup would ever be worth tearing apart this family. Nothing would. Drew wasn't like that, and he could tell May wasn't, either.

May watched as he raised his hand to his hair and moved his bangs out of his eyes for a moment. She could see his eyes, and how genuinely happy he was to watch the scene before him. Drew loved Pokémon; not just his own, but all of them. It warmed her heart and made her blush a bit. He didn't notice.

"So, I'll let them be," he concluded.

"Yeah," she sighed, turning her attention back to them for a moment.

After a minute, Arcanine stood, and her puppies did as well. Arcanine took a moment to bark her thanks to the trainers, and took her leave, her puppies hopping and bounding behind, following her closely. The family disappeared into the maze of trees, and that was that.

* * *

It took them all a few hours to eventually find their way back to the main road.

Viridian Forest was huge, a thick barrage of flora and fauna that it was very easy to get lost within. After the five of them argued which way to go for a while, they seemed to finally stumble back to what was a well marked road, with signs pointing in either direction.

Drew didn't say much while he was with them; just occasionally argued that they were going the wrong way now and then. He could have long left, asking Flygon to carry him up and out of there, but he never felt the need to. He found he was content with them, or rather, with her.

The sun was slowly beginning its final sink towards the horizon, and it wasn't long before it would be late.

"I guess this is goodbye," Drew acknowledged as they all prepared to separate.

"Until we meet again at least," May giggled a little, clarifying.

He nodded, and a thought came to him.

"You know there's a contest coming up in Saffron City I think you should enter," he stepped towards her.

Her eyes lit up, but her expression was a little guarded. Or maybe she was just surprised to learn this. Or perhaps she was just a little surprised that he'd actually taken a chance to get closer to her on his own accord. With her, it could mean anything. She had a habit of surprising him.

"I hadn't heard anything about it," she confessed, watching him closely. "Why, are you entering?"

Originally, yes, he was going to. But very abruptly, his plans had changed. And they had changed because of her.

If May was building her team, adding a small yet obviously fierce water type to her arsenal, it made him really think about his own team. He needed to keep up with her, and though he'd already been ahead of her on the ribbon count, he knew it was time to add a new member to his party, so he could stay one step ahead of her, like he'd always tried to do. Wasn't that the point of going after Arcanine in the first place?

"Nah; I have to focus on finding a new Pokémon to strengthen my team first," he elaborated. "But I think you'd do really well in it."

Her eyes widened at his compliment, because she knew to him, that was one of the highest forms of praise he could give. They'd had their fair share of pleasant moments since they'd met, and what seemed like a ton of less than cordial interactions, so May had learned to cherish these moments with him. The times when he was sweet and genuine and actually looking out for her, wishing her well in her coordinating career.

It was a sharp contrast to when they'd first started. In the beginning, there was only mocking and scorn. She had been convinced he hadn't had a nice bone in his body. But she'd noticed the change in him as time when on. Especially after their time on Mirage Island, she had begun to see a new, kinder and softer side to this boy that she had to admit made her feel closer to him in certain moments.

Those were the moments that kept her forever anticipating seeing him again.

She blushed once more and nodded.

"Wow, thank you, Drew."

He smiled and nodded one last time, taking his chance to leave. He threw a wave over his shoulder just for good measure.

He wouldn't be competing in Saffron; after all, he wanted her to take the ribbon. And as much as he wanted to battle her - for real - again, he knew it wasn't the right time. It would be her first contest of the season, and she didn't need to start it off nervous about facing him or anything like that. He wanted to see her succeed. He wanted to see her face light up when she was handed the ribbon, because he knew she could win it.

And he planned to be watching. Not just in Saffron City.

He planned to watch her throughout all of Kanto.


	18. Mt Moon

**Mt. Moon–** In which Drew see's May's Kanto debut and visits mysterious places in search of rare Pokémon.

 **Author's notes:**  
\- So, I'm back. Hello all. On we go into the bulk of our Kanto adventures.  
\- A lot of people ask me what my favorite contestshipping stories are, and honestly, there's one story that I've read countless times over and over. Not only is it the best contestshipping story I've ever read, but it's honestly one of the best fanfictions I've ever read, period. It's called "Don't Take Forever" by GengarFamily. It follows May and Drew beyond Kanto, and we get to see them blossom together through Johto, Sinnoh and even back to Hoenn. It's honestly something I can't praise enough, and I implore you guys, PLEASE GO READ THAT STORY.  
\- I talk about ghost types and dark types in this chapter, so we'll just call this the "Halloween chapter."  
\- Mentions of the episode, "The Saffron Con."  
\- Second bullet point emphasizing the greatness of "Don't Take Forever" by GengarFamily.

* * *

Saffron City was known for holding an "open stage" for its contestants.

Every two weeks, when Saffron City would host a contest, they would open the stage to coordinators two days early. Contestants were given the opportunity to map out their appeals ahead of time. It was a huge help to most coordinators, because the stage in Saffron's contest hall wasn't like traditional stages. It was a small-scale arena, which meant coordinators had to plan their appeals to fit in a small-scale setting. It was a loop for those who were accustomed to the larger, more open stage formats.

Drew always liked watching Saffron City's contests. He was fascinated by the tiny arena. He even kept up with the Saffron contests in particular when he could during the Hoenn circuit. Seeing how contestants and their Pokémon had to adapt was always interesting. Some couldn't handle the changes, others thrived in it.

Assuming she'd taken his advice, Drew made his way to Saffron City to see if May would compete in the upcoming competition. He still didn't plan on competing, because he knew it would be her first contest in Kanto, and he didn't want her to get too fired up and nervous knowing she'd be facing him. She deserved to have a fair shot at her first ribbon, and a chance to adjust to the contest circuit in this new region. He wanted her to have that.

So as much as it killed him, with ideas flowing through his head of appeal combinations Masquerain could pull off in this small yet wonderful arena, he held off.

Besides, he always loved the chance to observe May. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

She'd never straight up said she was going to Saffron City, and as he strolled into town the day before the contest, he wondered if she was actually there. If she wasn't, he would be disappointed, but at any rate, he could still watch the contest, so he was mostly fine with it.

And yet, the thought of him having traveled all the way there, just to have the opportunity to see her perform…

The whole Arcanine incident had thrown him off his game a bit, anyway. After being in Kanto for a few weeks, and discovering all the new Pokémon he had, he was more than ready to catch a new one for his team. That beautiful Arcanine had seemed so perfect, and he'd truly had his heart set on catching it, but after it was all said and done, he was fine without it. It just meant he had to look elsewhere, that was all.

Well, it turned out to be a little more complicated than that.

An Arcanine had seemed like such a natural fit for him. From the moment he'd laid his eyes on the Pokémon, he'd thought he was absolutely certain that the legendary Pokémon was what he wanted. Now, he was back to uncertainty. Arcanines were _rare_. Extremely rare. Solidad was amazed that he'd even seen one within his first few weeks in Kanto. She'd only seen one in her 19 years of life.

Encountering another one was a long shot. Maybe too long. Drew knew this, and as he ventured on towards Saffron City, he started to consider other possibilities. What Pokémon could he catch that would fit his team?

Drew had just over a week to wander before the contest in Saffron City, so he and Flygon had a few practice sessions of flying in short spurts throughout the region. Over time, he'd grown more comfortable gliding through the sky, and he allowed Flygon to carry him farther and farther with each passing day.

One day, they'd stopped over in Lavendar Town. Drew had heard stories of the proclaimed most haunted city in Kanto, and he wondered if maybe a ghost Pokémon would fit on his team. He'd need to see some up close to make the decision, but he didn't rule out the possibility.

For its creepy lure, Lavendar Town was actually surprisingly pleasant. They were ghost-obsessed for sure, and just from strolling down the streets, Drew could see it was the major point of the town's tourism industry. He didn't want to waste time with attractions, though. He was after the real stuff.

Drew was wondering down one street, trying to get a sense of direction, or find someone who could answer some questions for him when he heard someone shouting his name.

A high-pitched cry pierced the air around him, and Drew rolled his eyes and turned in the direction of the noise, planning to politely ask the person to stop.

A cold sweat dripped down his head when he saw who was calling out to him.

Harley.

 _Oh fuck no…_

Drew's internal groan was cut short when, without warning, Harley grabbed him by the shoulders and squished him in an awkward hug.

"Oh, Drew, how great to see ya!" Harley cheered, shaking Drew a little bit.

Disgusted, Drew wiggled his way out of the hug and took a few steps back, all but glaring up at the coordinator who'd left a bad taste in his mouth more than a few times.

"What do you want, Harley?" Drew spit, folding his arms for good measure.

Drew wanted to be absolutely certain Harley knew just how disinterested in his entire existence Drew actually was. Harley put one hand on his hip and stood in front of him wearing a huge smile, not even phased.

"I just can't believe you're here in Kanto!" Harley smiled a huge, fake grin; Drew could see right through it. "Now I'm competing against another friend! Oh, how fun!"

"We're not friends," Drew deadpanned. "Not now, or ever."

"Oh, boohoo, you're not still upset about me messing with your girlfriend in Hoenn?" Harley rolled his eyes.

"Do you need something or can I go now?" Drew said, curtly.

In the back of his head, Drew realized he hadn't corrected Harley on the "girlfriend" statement, and this had been the second time he'd made that mistake, but Harley spoke again before he could amend it.

"Just wanted to say you're going down this season, grass head," Harley smirked, leaning in trying to intimidate Drew. "You might have done well in Hoenn, but you still lost, and here in Kanto, I'll be the one winning it all."

"Yeah, okay, sure," Drew sighed. "Are you done? I have more important things to do than to acknowledge that you exist."

"My, my; someone's touchy," Harley all but sang while leaning back. "I'm warning ya, shrimp. You better hope you don't run into me in a contest. Do you plan on competing in Saffron next week?"

"Not that it's any of your business where I go, but no, I won't be there to compete," Drew rolled his eyes. "I'll be sure to watch along, though; it'll be fun seeing May beat you again."

Harley stiffened slightly, and a dark look flashed in his eyes. But it passed as quickly as it came, and a sassy smirk was back on. If Drew had blinked, he would have missed the look entirely, and an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Drew knew Harley was smart enough to leave him alone, but May was a whole different story. He had messed with her mercilessly in the past, and Drew knew that wasn't going to stop this season, either. He'd have to watch this guy, not for himself, but for May.

"I had no idea little miss sunshine was even here in Kanto," Harley mused. "That makes it even better; I'll have fun squashing you both, then."

"If you can manage that without cheating, I'll be amazed," Drew shot out.

"Why, whatever do you mean, hon?" Harley asked innocently. "I can't believe you think that I would ever–"

"Cut the shit," Drew cut him off. "I saw what you did in Hoenn, and so did she. I don't know what your grudge is against her, and I don't care, but a real coordinator won't stoop as low as you do. Get yourself together and play fair this season, Harley. If you win, win because of your talent; not because you screwed someone else over."

Harley looked so uninterested in Drew's speech as he picked at his fingernails.

"Mhmm, sure thing, loser," Harley yawned. "I'd love to stay and chat with your boring self, but I've got a contest to get ready for. I'll give your girlfriend kisses for you as she's crying when I'm holding that ribbon."

Harley threw out a wink and peace sign for good measure, and Drew felt like he would be physically sick if he was forced to stay in this boy's presence any longer. Lucky for him, Harley turned on his heels.

"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" Harley called out as he skipped away.

Drew stared after him until he was out of sight, and let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Well, that had been an unpleasant discovery. To think, two days prior, he was elated to have discovered May was in Kanto as well. Now, he felt utterly disgusted with the knowledge that Harley, of all people, was there as well, and he seemed to have no intentions of changed his ways. Figured he would run into him here in Lavender Town, the creepiest town of all. It seemed fitting.

His bright mood had been effectively dampened for the morning, and he turned to continue his search for ghost Pokémon.

A local tour guide had offered him some solid advice, and Drew spent some time exploring the woods just outside of town. This small, mostly unknown forest was reportedly a common place for ghost Pokémon, and it was the better option of the two places he'd been pointed to. The other was a giant cemetery, and Arceus knew Drew wasn't going to spend hours wandering about in a Pokémon graveyard.

The forest was small, as promised, but it held the same spooky atmosphere that the town had. A light fog dusted the forest floor, and it seemed to be night because the over growth at the tops of the trees effectively cut almost all of the sunlight. White light bled through some holes in the foliage, but it wasn't enough to illuminate the woods. Had Drew not had Flygon right by his side, he might not have had the nerve to actually explore this place.

The two trudged on for about two hours. A few Ghastly and even a Haunter had appeared in the forest. Drew watched them from a distance with some fascination, as he'd never had the opportunity to study ghost Pokémon up close in the wild before. Hoenn had a well-known ghost Pokémon hub at Mt. Pyre, but again, he wasn't going to spend time in a cemetery. That was way too creepy and not his cup of coffee.

Drew and Flygon watched Pokémon hover by and disappear as they traversed on through the dark forest. Though incredible in their own right, Drew knew these ghost types didn't have a place on his team. They wouldn't exactly fit Drew's style. Or maybe he was remember the times he'd seen Harley's Banette perform in contests. Whatever it was, the idea of having a ghost type turned him off, and he and Flygon were flying back to his hotel in Fuchsia City just as the sun had barely begun to set.

The days leading up to Saffron's contest were shrinking, and Drew spent each day exploring exotic places and trying to get some sense of what he was looking for.

So the quest to find a new Pokémon continued. Painfully slowly.

He'd found himself entering the city limits of Saffron without being any closer to an answer, and Drew knew that it would turn into the same situation as it was with the Arcanine.

He'd know what he wanted when he saw it.

Drew just hoped luck would be on his side again, and soon.

* * *

A week flew by, as it often did in the contest season, and Drew found himself in the crowd of Saffron City's contest hall.

Lillian took the stage and waited for her queue to get the show started. Drew still wasn't used to seeing the flashy, more daring sister of the more-reserved Vivian that he'd come to know so well from Hoenn. He could see her foot tapping with nervous energy to get started. The judges had already been seated at their panel, and the audience cheered in anticipation for the coming show.

All things considered, Saffron City was a small-scale contest, and it was perfect for beginners. That was partially the reason why he had recommended this contest to May, as her first entry in the Kanto Circuit, and why he was fine with skipping it.

The lights suddenly blasted on, and the stage lit up, Lillian waving to the hundreds of people in the crowd.

"Welcome, everyone; it's show time!" Lillian greeted over the loudspeaker. "And welcome also to all of our coordinators and their Pokémon! The Saffron City Pokémon Contest on our all new stage is about to get underway! Get ready for a display of love and creativity!"

Everyone cheered, and Drew looked around. It was so much…less than what he was used to. The stadium was smaller and the crowd even more so. But it was nice. Somehow, this contest felt more intimate, and he was excited to actually be watching a contest live instead of watching the recap hours later when it went online. Contests were better this way.

"Only one contestant will take home this valuable prize: the Saffron ribbon!" Lillian explained, flashing the ribbon to the entire crowd. "Only truly amazing coordinators who win this ribbon will move on to hopefully win contests all across the region, and get the five badges necessary to have any chance of entering the Grand Festival! Alright then, let's get to the action, shall we?"

Lillian went on to start introducing the judges, all of whom Drew knew entirely too well at this point, so he let his mind wander.

With both May and Harley entered in the contest, and dozens of coordinators unknown to him, Drew found himself excited to get the show underway. The only way it could have been any better was if Solidad had been with him to critique. But maybe it was better that she wasn't there; after all, he hadn't told her that May was in the region to compete.

Ever since May had walked into his life, Solidad had always been intrigued about her. Almost to a point where Drew was embarrassed when May came up in their conversations, because Solidad always had some look in her eyes when the girl with the red bandana would come up. And Drew couldn't remember the last time they had chatted without Solidad asking how May was.

Either way, Solidad was going to know after today; she watched every contest, just like Drew did. Oh, the conversations this was going to spark…

"Now, let's get right to the first round!" Lillian went on. "In our opening round, contestants will showcase both coordinator and Pokémon technique and performance. Now is everyone ready?"

The crowd roared in response, sounding much more eager than before, and Lillian threw a thumbs up to them all.

"We sure have a great crowd here today!" she said. "Now, give it up for our first contestant! And, here is…Harley!"

Drew threw his head back and held back a groan, causing those around him to look at him. He brushed off their stares and focused back down at the stage just in time to see Harley smiling, waving and blowing kisses to everyone as he took his place. It was disgusting.

Then a terrible thought; was Harley here because Drew told him May was here? And there was no doubt in Drew's mind Harley probably went after May in some way, but was it all his fault?

Drew pursed his lips and glared down at the stage a little, that sinking feeling in his stomach still stuck there.

"Come on out, my cool Cacturne!" Harley summoned.

The cactus Pokémon soared out of the Pokéball and landed on the ground with a powerful thud. The Pokémon stood at the ready, and the audience around Drew leaned forward in suspense at the sight of a Hoenn-based Pokémon. Harley called for a cotton spore, and the crowd was all but entranced as Harley's Pokémon displayed its mastery of the move, keeping the puffs of cotton levitating slowly in the center of the stage.

The move was impressive enough on its own, and Drew was interested to see how Harley would follow it up. It amazed Drew that Harley felt he needed to cheat his ay through competitions. He truly was a talented coordinator, and if he'd worked on honing his gifts rather than trying to manipulate his way to victory, he'd be a lot better off.

Oddly enough, when Harley ordered a needle arm attack, his Pokémon stayed completely still. The whole arena, Drew included, watched carefully and confused. The strategy made sense; nothing riled up a contest crowd like suspense. It was a strategy Drew himself had used countless times.

Then suddenly, with a snap of Harley's fingers, Cacturne fired off the most impressive needle arm Drew had ever seen. Glowing spikes shot out of Cacturne's bodym impaling each and every floating cotton spore and holding it. Shining pillars of light stayed connected to Cacturne's body, and not a single spore was missed. The Pokémon itself locked itself into a fierce stance, and the whole stadium fell silent for a few seconds admiring the display.

It was obvious Harley had improved since Hoenn's circuit; just this appeal alone was much better than Drew had ever seen come out of the coordinator on stage. The crowd cheered crazily. Harley scored well, and Drew wondered about the coordinators back stage who'd watched.

But then he decided that it didn't matter.

Somehow he knew, May would be better.

* * *

Swift aerial aces, glittering stun spores mind bending levitations, dangerous vine whips.

Drew couldn't remember the last time he'd seen such an incredibly diverse display of Pokémon appeals in a first round. He and the audience marveled at the wonderful appeals that took over the stage for over an hour. From the amazing way a coordinator ordered his Raichu to bat around various spark attacks using a quick attack, to the miniscule Diglett that let off an earthquake attack that seemed impossible for something that size, Drew couldn't deny that he was tremendously impressed. For a contest so early in the season, there was some serious talent here.

Winning the Kanto region title wouldn't be easy – he never expected it to be – but he sure as hell wasn't expecting this level of talent and creativity so early in the season. The need to catch a new Pokémon to combat these skilled coordinators was biting at him all the harder.

Drew instantly recognized when the Jessie girl from Team Rocket showed up, and he sighed heavily when she continued her strange appeal strategy that he'd seen in every contest she'd entered. Summoning a Cacnea he knew belonged to her purple-haired partner, Drew took some small kind of comfort in the fact that at least in this appeal, she didn't seem like she was trying to cheat. In previous performances she'd been in, Drew watched her do everything from use machinery to change the color of her Pokémon's attacks to faking a Meowth using transform.

This time, she summoned the little spike ball Pokémon and…went in for a hug. Drew and the audience cringed as the two made contact, and there was no denying – especially from the look on her face – that is was painful. A bold move for sure, and while it wasn't exactly appealing, it was impressive. The whole stadium seemed to get sucked into the bizarre act.

But that apparently wasn't enough. Jessie called for the Cacnea to use pin missile…while she was still holding onto it. Drew gritted his teeth but looked on, somehow morbidly fascinated by the whole thing. Others around him couldn't bear to watch it and looked away, muttering comments on how insane this woman was.

Thankfully, Cacnea shot the pin missile attack upwards, and the glimmering spikes collided in the air to create a gorgeous fireworks display. Shattered remains of shining light refracted in rainbows and slowly rained down. The audience and the judges loved every second of it.

Jessie was almost too stunned to walk off stage, but eventually she stumbled down the steps and swayed into the back hall until she disappeared.

The appeals were all but done and only one coordinator remained.

Drew watched the entrance to the stage, anticipating her entrance. What Pokémon would she use? How would she enter? Which moves would she combine here on this small stage?

May finally appeared, and she slowly and gracefully strode to her place in the spotlight. She stood before the audience proudly and confidently. It was a good look for her; she was where she belonged.

There was no need to summon her Pokémon, as Squirtle had walked alongside her. Drew was intrigued that she went with her Pokémon. While they had battled well together back in the Viridian Forest against Team Rocket, was the small turtle Pokémon ready for the stage?

It didn't seem so.

May's tiny Squirtle was desperately looking around as the crowd cheered louder and louder. A close up shot on the big screen above told Drew this Pokémon was nervous, and Drew bit the inside of his cheek a little. He had flashbacks to May's performance in Rubello Town, when she'd pushed her Bulbasaur way past its comfort zone to compete.

Her Squirtle's eyes scanned the crowd frantically. Drew watched it sympathetically on the big screen above, and was worried this was going to be a repeat of the disaster back in Rubello Town. With Harley here, May was sure to be on edge.

Then, May surprised him.

She looked down to her Squirtle and muttered something to it, holding up another Pokéball in the process. Then, it clicked. She wasn't forcing Squirtle to compete; she was introducing it to contests with a firsthand experience. It was the way she should have approached the situation in Rubello Town.

She had learned from her mistakes and clearly moved past them. Drew beamed for her, and his chest felt warm as he watched her comfort her Pokémon. Something as simple as this wouldn't have mattered as much from any other coordinator, but the was May. May was special.

He was glad he was there to watch her compete.

"Combusken, take the stage!"

Drew felt his PokéNav buzz in his pocket, but he ignored it, already knowing who it was and why. He'd face the music later; right now, he just wanted to watch May's appeal.

May was no stranger to using props in her performances, and while Drew typically looked down on using trinkets to "enhance" an act, there was no way he could say May hadn't really thought this performance out.

She eagerly ripped off her signature bandana, and flung it into the air while calling for Combusken to use both fire spin and sky uppercut.

Drew took an extra second to examine May; he'd never seen her without her bandana on. It was the first time he'd noticed the little ponytail of hair she kept tucked underneath her bandana, and his brain pondered how long her hair was, or what it would look like if she wore it down, and how pretty she looked with or without her signature headwear.

But then he heard the cry of Combusken charging up his fire spin, and he immediately refocused on her Pokémon to watch it perform.

It was insanity. It made no sense. There was no logical way in hell that what she was attempting to do was possible. Drew could only watch in amazement with the rest of the crowd how her fire-type soared through the tornado of fire it created towards that bandana. Combusken began a series of furious sky uppercut strikes at the bandana, somehow folding it back into a perfect round shape.

With one last attack, Combusken sent May's neatly folded bandana hurdling back towards the stage. To the audience and his surprise, they saw May running back towards the bandana. She leapt into the air, her headgear falling perfectly into place atop her head.

Once she was reunited with her bandana, she and Combusken leapt into center stage, one in front of the other, each striking a final pose. May topped it all off with a "taa-daa," and everyone screamed in approval. It was an appeal unlike anything they'd ever seen.

"How long do you think it took them to do that?"

"I think I recognize her from the Hoenn Grand Festival!"

"That Combusken sure is something!"

These questions filled the air around Drew, and all he could do was smirk down at the stage, May beaming and waving at the audience before bowing and taking her exit.

This was only the first contest of the season, but she was performing better than he'd ever seen her.

Arceus, she was incredible.

Drew finally pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened the text he'd received.

It was a cluster of exclamation points from Solidad, with no words or anything. No doubt she'd been watching the contest from Celadon City, where she'd competed the day before.

Drew rolled his eyes and pocketed his PokéNav again, but he felt the corners of his mouth still turned up in a smile.

* * *

The infamous yellow card in a contest…

Drew had heard of this legendary call in a contest, but he hadn't ever actually seen one firsthand. And he couldn't stop the laughter that escaped his lips when both Jessie and Harley were hit with one.

They had been the first battle of the round, and it was hilarious enough that they'd been paired up against each other. And when the battle had begun…well, when it _should_ have begun.

The strange match up started when Harley summoned his Ariados while Jessie called out her Wobbuffet. Jessie's strategy was as plain as day; everyone knew Wobbuffet could excel in repelling and countering attacks. The fact that she was just waiting for Harley to strike was so obvious, and no one knew it better than Harley himself.

Each side refused to attack, and the judges sat patiently annoyed. Lillian made the move to issue the yellow card.

In contests, yellow cards were extremely rare and almost never used. Being given a yellow card meant the judges would instantly cut your points in half. It was a near fatal blow in any contest, and coordinators lived in fear of being issued one.

Now, both competitors had their scores lowered without ever having made a move. It should have jump-started the battle, and it did…in a way.

Instead of fighting with their Pokémon, the two began hurling insults at each other. Drew watched just as dumbfounded as the rest of the audience. If he were a judge, he would have given them each a red card: an instant disqualification. This was the oddest contest he'd ever attended.

Finally, Harley made the first move. He called for a string shot, which actually in itself was brilliant. It wasn't an offensive attack, so when the Wobbuffet attempted to counter, nothing happened. Wobbuffett ended up tangled and covered in webs much to Jessie's horror.

All the more clever, Harley kept up a defensive strategy for the duration of the battle. He used Ariados' webs covering Wobbuffet to move it like a puppet, and it humiliated Jessie as her points were being drained away.

Bored after a few moments of his spectacle, Harley decided he wanted to end the battle. For his finale, Harley order Ariados to toss Wobbuffet into the air, and caught it on his back. The results were an extremely confused looking Wobbuffet, a horrified Jessie, and the remained of her points vanishing from the screen. The match was over, and Harley was the victor. Drew rolled his eyes, because while it was an odd spectacle to watch, it did showcase how dangerous Harley could be, with or without cheating.

Jessie left the stage without a word, and May's first battle began quickly after. Much to everyone's relief, it was a real battle.

Up against a coordinator named Travis and his Crobat, May and her Squirtle took the stage boldly. The tiny turtle looked up at the oversized bat Pokémon fluttering in the air, but it didn't seem deterred at all. This was definitely Squirtle's contest debut, but Drew had seen these two battle together before – right along side him, in fact – and he knew how well they would do.

It didn't surprise him in the least when they won the first match with ease. Squirtle seemed to be a natural for contests. Incredible bubble, water gun and other combinations finished off their opponent rather quickly, no doubt having probably underestimated their opponent due to how young and small Squirtle was.

May looked to be in top form, and it was no surprise when she and Squirtle blasted their way to the final round. Nor was it surprising when Harley also made it there. Watching his second battle, when he and Ariados actually fought a real contest battle was daunting. Drew couldn't emphasize enough that despite his tactics, Harley was actually a decent coordinator.

He was good. Drew scowled a little bit at that fact.

* * *

May's picture appeared next to Harley's on the big screen; a bright, happy smile against an easy, almost condescending grin.

The two coordinators who'd seemed destined to face off in the final round took their places stage opposite from each other. There was a subtle animosity that filled the air in the arena. The crowd was oblivious to it, but Drew could sense it all too well. Wherever May's friends were in the crowd, he was sure they could feel it, too.

Harley kept a sly grin on his face from his spot. May glared harshly across the stage over at her opponent, indicating to Drew that Harley had in fact tried to pull something over her at this contest already. Thankfully, whatever that ploy had been, May seemed to overcome it, and there she was, all the more ready to take him down before he could claim the ribbon for himself.

The clock began ticking, and the match began.

"Squirtle, take the stage!"

"C'mon, Ariados, string shot!"

The two Pokémon seemed to explode out of their Pokéballs. May no doubt gave her Squirtle a pep talk and debriefing on who their opponent was. Squirtle popped out of its Pokéball and quickly got into position. But Harley's Ariados, already having its first command, came out and prepared itself to shoot off a dangerous web.

"And scary face!"

Before May could call out a defense, Harley's Pokémon attached itself to the ceiling and locked itself into place right in front of Squirtle. Ariados gave its most intimidating stare, and Squirtle all but panicked, falling backwards in fear and rolling towards its coordinator. It was a brilliant way to utilize this combination, and definitely the most creative way Drew had ever seen. He raised an eyebrow, waiting to see how May would come back.

May's strategy wasn't to combat with something offensive at that moment. She merely spoke comforting words to her Pokémon, and if that wasn't a reflection of just how much May had grown during her journey, he didn't know what was.

This was her first contest of the season, and right off the bat, things in the final battle were going against her. He thought of her first contest in Slateport, when things weren't looking so good for her, and she panicked. Now, here she stood, calmly in the face of adversity. It was a contrast sharper than a poison sting attack.

Then, there was the way she tended to her Pokémon. In those moments, the concern wasn't set on her points and how they were dropping. Her focus was on the well being of her Pokémon. Despite having won two battles to get to this final round, May's Squirtle was still brand new to contests, which May was no stranger to doing. But unlike the horror show with her Bulbasaur in its first contest, May didn't antagonize her Pokémon to do better. She calmly told her Squirtle that it could and would do better.

It was what made her a great coordinator. There was still a lot she could learn – because hell, coordinators never stopped learning – but for the moment, she was displaying the qualities of someone who understood that coordinating wasn't just about winning. It was about the thrill of showcasing to the world how incredible Pokémon could truly be.

Squirtle and May shared a quick look, and Squirtle got back on its feet, ready to continue.

May called for an ice beam, which surprised him. Drew didn't know that May's Squirtle could perform an ice beam attack, but the amount of power that prepared to launch fourth from that tiny Pokémon's mouth was utterly incredible. It was a beautiful display of power…

It was too much power.

The beam that threatened to fire from Squirtle's mouth was too much for the small Pokémon, and when the beam finally fired off, it sent Squirtle flying backwards. The turtle Pokémon landed hardly on its back, and the whole audience leaned forward a little, worried for the cute Pokémon's well being.

Harley, unlike the rest of the stadium, simply laughed at Squirtle's misfortune.

"HA, nice try," Harley taunted. "You should have used Combusken. Going against me with a fire type, you might have had a fighting chance at least. Heeellllloooooo!"

Thankfully, May was not phased by his taunts.

"C'mon, Squirtle, get back up!" May cheered on her Pokémon. "We're still gonna win this thing."

Before Squirtle even had the chance to recover, Ariados grabbed onto it with a string shot and dragged it upwards to the ceiling. Ariados held on to Squirtle and awaited its orders. May gritted her teeth, looking up and trying to rack her brain for a solution as her points continued to drop.

Squirtle had performed so well in its first two matches. Despite facing Harley with a brave face, May must have had some reserves about facing him again. It was her first contest, and she'd been matched up against one of her toughest rivals. Maybe the pressure was hitting her more than she let on, and that insecurity must have been affecting her Squirtle.

 _Calm down, May, you've got this._

Harley wanted points for style, as well as room to move around with in the arena. He had his Ariados cover the whole stadium with sparkling spider webs, and his bug-type complied. Almost instantly, the room had been transformed into a spider den.

The way Harley utilized his bug type, and Drew was fascinated by the potential that bug types presented for contests. He'd won more than a few contests with his Masquerain, but maybe having another bug type on his team would benefit him.

Ariados launched Squirtle onto one of the newly formed webs, and effectively trapped May's Pokémon there like a fly on a glue trap. Squirtle wiggled and fought wildly against its restraints, and May's points were bleeding by the second.

There was a way out of this; Drew knew May would figure it out eventually. The people around him were all bouncing with anticipation.

"Oh man, she's done for!" one had said.

"That poor Squirtle!" another cried.

"That Ariados is about to finish this!" one said.

Drew just relaxed back into his seat as he looked away from the Pokémon. He watched May's face, and saw as her face slowly morphed from anger to understanding. It clicked for her, and he waited.

"Squirtle, ice beam attack, GO!"

And there it was. With a solid brace holding it in place, Squirtle could let all of that power it charged up with its ice beam fly, and not have to worry about flying backwards this time. The force of its attack served a double purpose; it pushed Squirtle through the webs trapping it, and it froze Ariados and all of its webs solid. May had effectively turned Harley's strategy against him; the stage was now hers. Harley's points dissipated after having such a sure-fire advantage ripped away from him.

Now back on solid ground, May switched back to her softer attacks; easy enough for Squirtle to handle and flashy enough to get her the win. Simple bubble and tackle attacks proved to be too much for Harley's spider Pokémon, who could no longer gain solid footing on the slick, frozen webs.

May had the knockout with well over a minute left on the timer. Her Squirtle stood victoriously atop its fainted opponent, and the crowd went absolutely nuts over the sudden turn around in the battle with such little time left. May embraced her Squirtle happily, and Harley was all but in shambles, recalling his Pokémon and storming off stage without so much as a handshake for May.

Minutes later, Drew noticed that Harley had _casually_ skipped the ribbon ceremony, but oh well. He remained up in the stands with the rest of the audience. Usually, he would duck out when the awards were being given, but this time he stayed.

And he was clapping along with the rest of them as May was handed her first ribbon of the Kanto circuit.

Drew's phone buzzed again, and he fished it out of his pocket to see another text, with double the amount of exclamation points.

Then, another came through.

 _This is going to be such an incredible season! Call me tonight!_

* * *

"I don't know what I'm looking for," Drew admitted, slumped a little bit in his chair.

"Have you even picked what type you want on your team?" Solidad mused, sipping her iced tea and watching him through the monitor in her rented room from a Pokémon center.

"No," Drew sighed, swirling around a cup of lukewarm decaf in his own hands. "When I first saw that Arcanine, I thought maybe a fire type would do me some good, but –"

"But you didn't want to copy a certain coordinator here in Kanto who's got a really spectacular Combusken?" Solidad smirked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"BUT I already have Flygon, who knows flamethrower, and we're working on dragon's breath," Drew corrected her with a frown.

"Oh lighten up," Solidad laughed softly. "I can't believe May's here in Kanto and you didn't tell me!"

Drew relaxed back into his chair. He and Solidad had been on the phone for only a few minutes, and he knew there was going to be no avoiding a conversation with her about his rival's sudden appearance in the Kanto circuit. And of course, Solidad had instantly piece together that he'd previously known, but failed to share the information with him.

Solidad loved to talk about May for some reason. It was a mystery he still hadn't figured out. She was so fascinated in the girl with the red bandana for reasons that weren't entirely clear to him, but he was forever fascinated with her as well, so he couldn't say anything. He had learned by this point that it was better to try to steer the conversation in a different way.

He always enjoyed talking with Solidad, and though he never really took her advice about coordinating – because he had his own way of doing things – he did always enjoy picking her brain about things he didn't know too much about.

Kanto was Solidad's home region, and he had been open and candid with her about wanting to find a new Pokémon for a while now.

"You were bound to find out she was here anyway, so bringing it up seemed pretty pointless when the fact was bound to come up organically," Drew shrugged.

"Still could have said something," Solidad sang a little. "I hope I'll get to battle her at some point this season. Her style is unlike anything I've ever really seen."

"I've only known for barely even a week, and we haven't really talked since your last contest," Drew informed her as if she'd forgotten.

"I need to slow down," Solidad mentioned offhandedly, looking down at her closed ribbon case next to her tablet. "This season is going to fly by; three ribbons and we're only a month in."

Drew envied her. He had his first ribbon, sure, and he had plenty of time to get his next four, but he knew more than anyone that in this contest season and in this contest circuit, Solidad was his best friend but his worst enemy. She posed the biggest threat to him taking home the title. In honesty, he had only entered one contest since he'd arrived, and he didn't want to stress about something as pointless as who'd make it to ribbon five first. They were both going to the Grand Festival, no doubt.

His number one concern at that moment needed to be finding his new partner. The earlier, the better, because the more time he'd have to train with whatever Pokémon he caught for the Grand Festival. He'd debuted Flygon during Hoenn's ultimate contest; he would love to make that a staple of his style.

"The sooner you lock in your spot, the sooner you can start training for it," Drew responded. "Arceus knows you'll need all the practice you can get for when we face off in the finals for the Ribbon Cup."

"I'll keep that in mind," Solidad grinned. "Anyway, so back to the Arcanine thing."

Solidad was good about knowing when to push something and when to back off. While May's presence in the circuit was exciting to her, and she knew it was exciting to him, he was really stuck on finding a new Pokémon to train with. So she focused on that.

"I want something rare," Drew explained. "Something no other coordinator has; something that I can work with and something that will work well with the rest of my team. I've seen a few great options at contests I've been watching, but nothing's really caught my attention the way that Arcanine did."

"I would say 'find another Arcanine,' but I know how hard that would be," Solidad agreed, thinking hard.

"Right," Drew nodded. "I feel like Flygon and I have covered a lot of ground these last few days searching."

There had to be a place where Drew could go to find some inspiration. Drew wasn't native to Kanto, and his lack of knowing the region by heart had to play a role in his struggle. Solidad thought long and hard as he listed the places he'd been to and what he'd seen there. She checked off places one by one as he listed them.

By the time he was done recalling, Solidad noticed he hadn't mentioned one place known throughout Kanto to have rare Pokémon. She thought everyone knew about it, and was surprised Drew hadn't gone there yet.

"If you've got any ideas on where I can go explore next, be my guest, Sol, because I'm out of ideas and relying on luck to hand me a Pokémon like it did that Arcanine isn't something I want to do."

Solidad pursed her lips and thought about it for a moment. Then, she finally spoke.

"I think the place you're looking for is Mt. Moon."

* * *

Mt. Moon wasn't anything like he expected.

When Solidad first began describing it to him, he pictured a huge chain of mountains and he imagined himself scaling cliffs to find rock type Pokémon.

Mt. Moon was not like that.

Drew found himself wandering through a seemingly endless forest that lived on the west side of Cerulean City. It was a peaceful place littered with Pokémon he'd never encountered before. And the mountain was visible from every inch of this forest. Drew had been exploring for hours and hadn't once lost sight of the peak, no matter how thick the brush and foliage became.

The lure of rare Pokémon promised by Solidad brought him here; the chance of encountering Cleffa, Clefairy and Clefable was what this place was known for. Cleffa was the rarest of them all; according to legend, they never showed themselves to humans. He already knew he didn't need a fairy type on his team, but if Pokémon as rare as those called this place home, he couldn't imagine what other types he could potentially see here.

The day went on, and Drew watched as small bug types and the occasional grass types would pop up randomly in front of him. Some had potential. Others just came and went. Nothing was clicking with him.

Drew strolled on and on until the sun started going down. He'd been walking all day and examining different Pokémon, and he was tired. So just as the sky began its descent on the horizon, he called out his Flygon and the two flew back to Cerulean City for the night.

He settled into the hotel room with an order for room service placed, and his Pokémon happily munching on their dinners behind him.

With his PokéNav set up on the table, he scrolled through his contacts and selected Solidad's number. She'd asked him to keep her updated on his search for rare Pokémon, so he figured he'd call her that night to let her know how his day at Mt. Moon went.

The phone rang several times before Solidad answered. She was in here pajamas and clearly getting ready for bed, but wore a confused look on her face. He tilted his head right back at her.

"What?" he asked, cracking open a bottle of water.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "I thought you were going to Mt. Moon?"

He blinked a few times, looking at the clock that read almost 10:30 p.m.

"I _was_ there, all day," he clarified.

" _Day?_ " Solidad looked even more puzzled.

"Er, yeah?" Drew responded slowly. "I left here at 8 in the morning. I didn't get back until, like, 9:50."

A weird smile appeared on her face, as if she was holding back laughter. Drew stared at her, confused.

"Drew, don't you know that Mt. Moon is a special place for rare Pokémon at _night_?" she questioned aloud.

 _Oh._

She'd said it as if it was so obvious, and from the look on her face, it probably was. He'd done little to no research on Mt. Moon before he went. When Solidad had first told him to try looking there, he'd jumped at the chance, because he trusted her judgment and didn't think twice about it. Now, Drew rested his head in one of his hands, trying to keep his face from turning red from embarrassment.

"No one told me finding the good Pokémon here happens at night," he muttered. "Kanto is weird."

Solidad laughed.

"Tourist," she giggled, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Whatever," he grumbled, taking a sip from his water.

"Don't fret," she halfheartedly consoled him. "Try again tomorrow, but at night. Your chances are even better, because lucky for you, there's going to be a full moon. I've never been there during a full moon, but I've been told by several friends that it's the best way to experience Mt. Moon."

"Yeah, okay, I'll try that," Drew yawned; where was his order of pasta primavera?

Solidad smiled knowingly at her young friend. She had explained to him he needed to go there at night when they'd talked before, but he seemed so spaced out when she'd said it, she didn't give him any flack for it. He seemed exhausted, and after a full day of going through the forests surrounding Mt. Moon, she knew he was.

"I'm going to bed now," Solidad explained just as she heard a knock on Drew's door and watched his head turn towards it. "I say you sleep in tomorrow, and get back out there later in the evening."

Drew nodded, thanked her, and after she hung up, he opened the door to get his dinner.

Once he settled back down into his chair, he told his team they needed to stay up late so they could wake up late, and stay out even later the next evening. They all seemed okay with the plan, and Drew pulled up the stream of the contest that had happened in Gardenia Town earlier that day.

* * *

It was 4:45 in the afternoon when Drew set out to head back to Mt. Moon again.

After a short flight on Flygon, Drew began wandering through the woods again, this time keeping all three of his Pokémon along side him. Though he had a flashlight, the growing darkness made him want to keep his Pokémon out with him just incase they should come across anything dangerous.

The moon took its place in the sky and illuminated the tall mountain in the distance. They strolled through widened paths in the trees for hours, stumbling upon sleeping Pokémon who skirted away when he startled them.

Eventually, Drew heard the sounds of laughter and people a short distance away from him, and as he drew closer to the sounds, he noticed the faint glow of a campfire.

He came across the campers who greeted him warmly. It was a young couple with a small boy and a Stoutland who gave him a small growl, but its owners assure him it was alright, and the large dog settled back down with the young boy climbing on top of him.

Drew talked to the couple for a few minutes. Initially, they'd explained that their son, Nathan, was a Growlithe scout working on earning his backcountry camping badge. The family was on a six-day camping trip, and was three days into it, so they'd been exploring the woods just as Drew had. Then, they asked Drew why a young man was out wandering the woods at night on his own.

"I'm a Pokémon coordinator," Drew explained to them. "I'm out here hoping to find a new Pokémon to add to my team. You guys haven't seen anything out here, have you?"

The man and the woman looked at each other, then back to Drew.

"Actually, we haven't," the woman responded.

"But we have been hearing something at night," the man continued.

"We don't know what it is, though," the woman added. "I'd hate for you to chase after something and not know what it is. It could be dangerous."

"I think we'll be okay," Drew assured them, gesturing back to his Pokémon behind him. "My friends are pretty strong; they train hard, and we're no strangers to tough battles. We know to bail if something gets too out of hand."

He rested his hand against Flygon, and Roselia and Masquerain nodded in affirmation to the campers before them.

"I'd love to know more details, if you have any," Drew said.

"Well, alright, but we're pleading with you to be careful," the woman spoke softly. "We don't know much, though."

Drew nodded, and sat down on a stump that was near the campfire. His Pokémon sat down next to him.

"Whatever it is, is closer to the mountain," the man explained, pointing to the east where the peak was towering over the trees. "We heard it howling out the first night we were out here. Stoutland here seemed nervous, and that made us a little apprehensive. That thing was calling out loudly, though we couldn't figure out why, or even where it was. It sounded like it was all around us, and since that night, we've been moving to set up camp further away from the base of the mountain.

"It's odd, though. During the day, we don't' hear it at all. When we're hiking up near the mountain, there's no signs of anything out of the ordinary, but we've heard it every night, and it only happens at night."

"Do you have ideas of what it could be?" Drew asked, intrigued. "Like any guesses at all?"

"All I know is it's nothing like any of the Pokémon I've ever heard," the man explained. "We've both grown up around this area, and I've camped in these woods more times than I can count, but whatever it is must have moved here recently."

"It's pretty scary when it roars," the little boy chimed in. "We haven't heard it tonight!"

"That's interesting," Drew mused. "I wonder if it has anything to do with the–"

As if on queue, or as if whatever the creature was knew it was being discussed, a loud roar ripped through the air around them. The family and Drew listened as the sounds went on for a few seconds, before they quieted down and the only sound that remained was the soft crackles of the campfire.

The mysterious sounds made the hairs on his arms and neck stand up, and Drew's heart race with excitement. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't like normal Pokémon.

"There ya go," the man breathed to break the silence. "That was it, sounds like it's still coming from the east. Any ideas?"

"None at all," Drew said quietly, hoping to hear it again. "But I do know that we've got to find out what this thing is."

He looked back at his three Pokémon, and they all nodded towards him. None of them showed any signs of fear, and he felt ready to take on whatever this mysterious Pokémon was.

"Please, please, please be careful out there, young man!" the woman begged him. "If anything goes wrong, you hop on that Flygon and come find us, alright?"

"Of course," Drew nodded, standing to take his leave. "I promise we'll be okay."

"Hey, do me a favor, son," the man stood as well, reaching into his back pocket and fishing out a small card. "I'm interested in knowing just what that thing is, so if you do manage to find it, or catch it, will ya shoot me an email so I can know, too?"

Drew took the business card from the man; his name was Ken Becker, and he was a relator for some big company. Drew nodded, and put the card in his own back pocket to keep it safe.

"Yeah, we'll let you know for sure," Drew told them. "Thanks for all your help; we really appreciate it."

* * *

Roselia and Drew hopped on Flygon's back, and Masquerain flew right behind them.

Drew and his team soared through the night sky towards the base of the mountain, adrenaline flowing through each and every vein. He had to know what this Pokémon was. He had to know if it was something that could be his.

Throughout their short flight, even with the wind in his ears, Drew heard the cry of whatever it was several more times. That sound pierced the rush of the winds, and it excited him further. Drew's brain couldn't even begin to imagine what awaited them at the mountain, and the second he spotted a decent landing spot higher up on one of the cliffs, he ordered Flygon to take them down to it.

They landed quietly, and Drew slid silently off of his Flygon's back, signaling for his team to remain stealthy, but ready to strike at any moments notice.

Drew began walking quietly in along the mountain path, flashlight turned off and letting his eyes adjust to the pale light of the full moon. They walked for a few minutes in silence, waiting to hear any noise they could.

Suddenly, the sounds of muffled growls could be heard a few yards away from where they were. Was this the same thing they'd heard earlier? Bushes began shaking at the tree line in front of them, and Drew halted his team. They all watched in anticipation and listened as the growls became louder and more pronounced. Whatever this thing was, it was _big_.

Drew took a slow breath tried to calm his nerves; this was a game of patience, but after waiting for so long and looking for a new Pokémon, the potential of whatever this one could be was eating at him. He felt as though he had to calm ever single cell in his body to keep him from calling out to whatever this was and demanding it showed itself.

A branch snapped from beyond the tree line. Roselia moved to stand in front of Drew, arms out at her sides ready to launch an attack if needed. Flygon moved to Drew's side, watching with his mouth open, ready to launch into a flamethrower.  
Even Masquerain moved to hover in front of Drew protectively.

Drew's eyes fell to his team for a Brief moment, smirking down in thanks and knowing they could take whatever this thing was.

Another growl, more shaking. This was it. Drew's fists balled, ready.

Out from the bushes emerged a large, black figure, still in the shadow of the trees and protected from the moon's light. Roselia called out to it, and the shadowing figure turned and faced them.

It stood up, and it began to growl at them intensely.

Drew watched, puzzled but ready to call for defenses, yet something was different. These weren't the same noises they had heard earlier. Was this really the Pokémon they were looking for?

Without warning, three little shadows jumped out in front of the larger one. They landed in the moonlight, growling little warnings at Drew and his party on their own.

Teddiursa; three of them. Drew took half a step back from the little babies, and watched as the momma Ursaring revealed herself as well with a loud, warning growl. Drew watched as the Teddiursa cubs looked back up at their mother, then back at Drew's party, then back to their mother again. After another stern growl, the Teddiursas fell back on all fours and scampered back into the bushed.

Drew observed the Ursaring closely as she stood in front of the bushes he cubs were scampering through. While this Ursaring looked strong and capable, his mind thought back to Arcanine and her baby Growlithe. It was the same situation; he couldn't separate a family, and he couldn't imagine what an Ursaring would do for his team. It would be a tough battler, yes, but combinations with whatever its move set was would be tricky…

This was not the Pokémon he wanted. He felt a little defeated admitting that.

"Guys, stand down," he ordered his Pokémon.

Roselia looked back at him quickly and nodded, but stayed in front of him just incase she and the others needed to defend.

Drew looked back up to the Ursaring.

"Sorry," he said to the large bear. "We're not here to bother you."

Ursaring looked on to the team for another moment, but finally turned away to follow her cubs back into the woods. Drew watched and listened as the bear family moved further away until it was all but gone.

 _Damn it_.

Was he ever going to find the Pokémon he wanted? Should he just forget about it and start focusing on contests to catch up on ribbons to Solidad?

He looked over at his Flygon and thought about how great it had been to find his Vibrava. Maybe his luck had run out, not that he ever really liked relying on luck.

Drew sighed; it looked like it was just another pointless venture into the wild. He'd have to see if he could catch that family on the way back to town, and tell them that it was an Ursaring causing all the commotion. Maybe they'd think it was funny.

Oddly enough, Drew never pictured that an Ursaring or her young Teddiursa would be capable of making the noises that he'd heard. But that was apparently the case, and Drew rationalized that he'd never seen either of the bear types of Pokémon, and his lack of knowledge probably led to that little surprise.

Drew began leading his team back up the path again, away from the tree line and further up the mountain. They all walked silently, listening for anything interesting or out of place.

It'd been an hour since they'd run into the Ursaring, and they hadn't seen any other Pokémon since then, save for a few Zubats flying through the night sky. Not even an appearance from the legendary Clefairy that were supposed to overrun this place at night. It was extremely disappointing. There was nothing there.

Drew came to a stop along a cliff, overlooking a sea of darkened trees surrounding the mountain. His Pokémon stood on either side of him. He looked out as far as he could, and could see the faint glow of a city looming way off into the distance. It was late, or early; probably early, and Drew thought that maybe it might have been time to call it.

"You guys ready to go, or do you want to keep looking around?" he asked his team.

Roselia opened her mouth to respond, but that horrendous scream they'd heard early exploded from behind them, louder than he'd ever heard it.

This was no Ursaring.

Drew and his team wheeled around and looked up to discover the source of the noise.

* * *

This Pokémon took his breath away.

Balancing atop a narrow rock spire over them, directly in front of the huge moon, this Pokémon stood menacingly.

The dark type Pokémon's intense gaze was locked down on them, looking down on Drew and his Roselia, Masquerain and Flygon. Its stare was a look that said it was incredibly bothered to be in their presence.

It stood there growling, letting them know that they were invading his territory, and it wasn't happy about it.

It was the most beautiful _Absol_ he'd ever seen.

Absol's beautiful white fur glistened in the pale moonlight. Its sharp claws gripped the rocks beneath it powerfully. Its red eyes seemed to almost glow as it stared them down. Its stance alone practically oozed power, beauty and danger. All three appealed to Drew in a way he'd never felt before.

Like the moment he'd first laid eyes on that Arcanine all those days ago, except this time was different. This was more intense. Drew knew with every fiber of his being that he didn't just want this Pokémon on his team, but he _needed_ this Pokémon on his team.

Drew's Pokémon moved to stand in front of him again, but Drew's eyes were wide and transfixed on this Pokémon he had to have no matter what.

Absol seemed bothered by the fact that his warnings were not deterring the group before him, and he jumped high off his rock perch and landed with a thud in front of the group, trying to further intimidate him. He looked up at the moon and roared as loudly as it could.

There it was again; that proud roar that echoed off the walls of the mountain around him.

All three of Drew's Pokémon instantly knew that their trainer was interested, and Masquerain chirped down to Drew, asking what they should do.

Drew shook his head a little, coming down a little from his adrenaline high, and told them to wait. Drew didn't know much about Absols, other than the fact that they were extremely rare, especially there in Kanto, and that one of their weaknesses was bug-type moves. Roselia's stun spore attack would be a good plan B.

"Masquerain, be ready," Drew ordered his other Pokémon to fall back, because three on one wouldn't be fair.

Roselia and Flygon backed up and took their places next to their trainer, while Masquerain fluttered in front of him, waiting.

"Let's let Absol make the first move," Drew said. "We need to see what it can do."

Drew and his partners circled around Absol, and moved more into the center of the path away from the cliff. Anticipating a fierce battle, Drew knew better than to stand next to an Arceus knows how long drop off. He'd fallen off a cliff before back on Mirage Island, and he was determined to never repeat that mistake again. Especially seeing how this cliff didn't have a river to catch him.

Absol seemed more annoyed, now as Drew and his Pokémon made no movements to flee. This group had come into his territory and now they were seemingly taunting him to attack. Absol snarled an angry growl, and stomped its front claws on the ground, mercifully giving them one last chance to retreat.

Drew smirked back, understanding, and shook his head no.

That did it. Crying out, Absol's tail began to glow a bright white, and it smashed an iron tail attack into the ground, breaking up the ground and even launching some newly formed boulders into the air. It followed up with another iron tail, this time smacking the boulders and sending them flying towards Masquerain.

"Masquerain, quick, dodge those rocks! Use hidden power to smash the ones you can't avoid!"

Masquerain twisted and turned in the air, firing off powerful orbs of hidden power to break apart the rocks sent flying towards it. The little butterfly effortlessly evaded and dodged the oncoming threats.

One boulder that snuck past Masquerain was heading right for Drew and Roselia, but they paid no mind to it. Flygon instinctually smashed through it with steel wing, allowing Drew to focus on the battle at hand.

"Thanks, Flygon," Drew smirked quickly and turned back to the battle. "That was a nice combination, Absol, but let us show you some of ours. Masquerain, quick attack! Get all around Absol and then use hidden power again!"

Masquerain dashed around Absol, forming a circle and began rapidly firing off hidden power orbs at its target. Absol began jumping in and out of the way of the oncoming attacks, showcasing its speed and agility. It was even able to bat some of the orbs away with its iron tail. One well-timed dodge had Absol sending an orb and hitting Masquerain directly, sending Drew's bug type to the ground.

Drew's Pokémon stayed down for a second, shaking itself off before getting back up into the air again. This battle wasn't going to be easy.

Absol stood across from Masquerain again, charging up a new attack.

Sharp blades of light were shot out from Absol's horn, and Drew recognized razor wind. A powerful, unrelenting attack that was known to have a high rate of critical hits. Masquerain absolutely couldn't be struck by that.

"Sweep those up and overpower with your silver wind!"

Masquerain steadied itself and began pulsing out strong ripples of silver wind. Sure enough, Masquerain's ripples disbanded the oncoming silver blades, and broke through, directly hitting Absol who clearly wasn't expecting its own attack to be thwarted.

Drew flicked his hair out of his face; this Pokémon clearly wanted to demonstrate how strong it was, and Drew was intent of showing off just how strong his Pokémon were, too.

A direct hit from silver wind was devastating to Absol. It was slammed into the ground, and because of its weakness to bug attacks, he was slow and shaking getting back up. Panting, Absol cried out again at Drew, showing he wouldn't go down that easily.

"Good hit, Masquerain, let's keep it up!" Drew cheered.

Absol finally got back up on shaky feet, and a dull blue glow began to shine on it's pelt. With a hard stomp, water began rippling out around Absol. It covered the side of the cliff face with water. Drew watched, anticipating, and knew exactly what was coming and how to counter it. He just needed the right moment.

After moments of building power, Absol let off a strong water pulse attack. A huge wall of water began hurdling towards Masquerain, and Drew pointed out.

"Ice beam!"

Masquerain shot off a bright blue pulse of its own, and within seconds, the wave was effectively stopped, frozen in place. Masquerain chirped confidently, and Absol glared harshly at them, no doubt still weak from taking a super effective hit straight on. Still, it refused to give up, and braced itself for a new attack.

Drew meanwhile was observing the dark Pokémon closely, ever impressed by its grit and sheer willpower to keep the fight going. If there was ever a Pokémon more fit for contests, it was this Absol. He grabbed an empty Pokéball out of his pocket and held it tightly in his hand, waiting.

"We're close now, Masquerain, just hang in there and keep fighting!" Drew told his Pokémon.

Absol held its ground, not ready to give up.

"Hidden power, let's go!"

More orbs of light were shot out, and Absol pounced and leapt out of the way of each of them, using all the space it had on the impromptu battlefield. It even used its claws to grasp the side of the cliff face, and ran horizontally as hidden power orbs exploded into the wall behind it.

Then, Absol bounced off of the wall at a blinding speed and slammed straight into Masquerain, utilizing quick attack for itself. Masquerain cried out as it slammed back into the ground, splashing into the puddles of water left behind by the earlier water pulse.

Drew gritted his teeth. He needed to cut Absol's ability to dodge so he could land another hit. He took a small step forward, and heard the water slosh beneath his feet. The whole area they were fighting on was covered in water, and it sparked an idea.

"Masquerain, use your ice beam!" Drew commanded. "Freeze up this whole field, get Absol off balance!"

Masquerain quickly recovered and fired off another ice beam, coating the path in solid ice. Absol landed back on the flat ground just in time to slip along the slick surface. It tried to stand back up, but couldn't properly support itself.

"Perfect, now's our chance! Quick attack, and follow it up with silver wind!"

Masquerain jolted into it's blinding speed, popping up and around Absol at every angle and firing off brilliant silver wind. Absol tried to jump of the way, only to trip and slip over the ice. It took the hit head on, and when the smoke cleared, it was barely able to lift its head of the ground. Not quite fainted, not quite ready to give up.

Drew slowly approached the hurt Pokémon, careful not to slip on the icy field himself.

The closer Drew got, the more Absol wiggled and tried frantically to stand to move away. But moving after sustaining such injuries proved way too tough, and Absol watched with malice as Drew knelt beside him.

"Hey, take it easy, it's over now," Drew said softly.

Up close, Drew could see just how much damage Absol had actually taken during the fight. Its breathing was harsh and the dark type was exhausted, but too proud to admit defeat. Drew reached his hand out to try to put the Absol, who in turn snapped its head back and tried to back and Drew's hand. Drew retracted quickly enough to avoid the attack.

"Absol, you're hurt, let us help you," Drew offered.

Absol still growled at them, whipping its head back and fourth and trying to resist.

Drew stood back up and waited. Eventually it would have to give up, and Drew would wait however long he had to so he could help this Pokémon. After all, it was his fault it was hurt.

Suddenly, without any warning, Absol desperately charged up a weak razor wind attack. Flygon grabbed Drew and Roselia and jumped back out of the line of fire, and Masquerain fluttered up higher to avoid being hit. The razor wind launch forward a few feet and hit the ground with a small yet strong explosion. The force of the hit sent the nearly fainted Absol sliding across the ice and eventually over the cliff.

"FLYGON, GO!" Drew screamed.

Flygon complied instantly, and dove off the side of the cliff to catch Absol in the middle of its free fall. Far from hitting the ground, Flygon carefully carried Absol back up a top the cliff to a much-relieved Drew and his other Pokémon. Flygon carefully placed Absol back on the ground, and the weakened Pokémon looked up to see Drew approaching again.

Absol was now way too weak to do anything, and it felt a gentle hand stroking it's head softly before it fainted completely.

* * *

Absol awoke resting on a soft surface, unlike anything it had ever known before.

It felt things touching it and could hear strange noises all around him. It opened its eyes slowly to an all white room, and a large Chansey dressed in strange attire looking over to it.

In the other corner were other Pokémon he instantly recognized. The large Flygon and Roselia were sitting near another bed with the Masquerain he'd battled just hours ago. The trainer that had been with them earlier was nowhere in sight, though, and that did little to calm Absol's anxiety.

Initially startled and hopelessly confused, Absol began calling out to its fellow Pokémon, begging for answers and wanting to go back to its home. The others looked at him, but it was Chansey who approached. Chansey soothed the scared Pokémon, and told it the story of how a young trainer had brought him late last night in to be healed up by her and a doctor.

The other Pokémon – that green-haired trainer's Pokémon – also attested to the fact that Absol was safe, and they told him who they were and who their trainer was as well.

Absol listened intently, questioning everything it thought it knew the whole time.

* * *

Drew had no idea about the complications that came with this Absol, and as he sat across a small table from Officer Jenny, he told her the whole story of how he'd found it.

They sat together in the lobby of the Pokémon Center, where Drew had been for more than a few hours now.

After he'd caught the Absol in the Pokéball, he and Flygon rushed over to the nearest Pokémon Center they could get to. Drew frantically handed Nurse Joy the Pokéball and quickly explained it contained a hurt Absol from Mt. Moon. She nodded in understanding and took it back, while Chansey came out and Drew asked if she could check up on Masquerain, who insisted that he was fine, but Drew knew he'd taken a few hits during their battle and convinced to go get checked out, too.

A little while later, Nurse Joy came out and assured Drew the Absol would be okay, but that Drew would need to explain to someone about the dark type Pokémon he'd found at Mt. Moon.

Drew's confusion only intensified when he saw Officer Jenny walk through the door, and when she insisted they needed to talk.

So Drew launched into the story of how he'd wanted a new Pokémon to compete with, how he discovered the Pokémon near the top of the mountain, the intense battle they'd had, and how they'd ended up here.

"After it fainted, I put it in the Pokéball and brought it here," Drew finished, sipping the coffee that had been given to him.

Officer Jenny had nodded, finished scribbling down some notes in her little notepad and closed it up when she seemed satisfied.

"Alright, thank you for explaining, young man," she said. "That Absol has been around for a few years, and it's nice to know it's still okay."

"What do you mean?"

Officer Jenny's face morphed from her professional, hard expression to a softer, almost sad one. Drew waited.

"That Absol was a special case here," Officer Jenny explained. "You're from Hoenn, an Absol's natural habitat, and I'm sure that you know they're not native to Kanto?"

"Right," Drew nodded.

"A few years ago, we had a hunter's club here in Cerulean City," Officer Jenny continued. "They were a group of low lives illegally hunting Pokémon out here in the area. We couldn't ever connect the dots, and our partners with the Pokémon Rangers division reported discovering dozens of Pokémon who'd been hunted for sport over a span of a few years. I'll spare you the details beyond that; a lot of it is still confidential and pretty gruesome."

Drew shivered, and he felt a sickening sadness creeping its way through him. What a disgusting thought; people hunting Pokémon pointlessly. Pokémon hunting had always been illegal, and all throughout his life, he'd heard stories of people who broke the law, but never to this degree. He wasn't sure he wanted to know more, but Officer Jenny continued.

"The organization hunting these Pokémon grew bigger, and eventually, they started illegally importing Pokémon from other regions for their sport as well. We still couldn't find the guys or link anyone to the crimes, but I do remember I was just starting out here in Cerulean City when we started getting reports of rare Pokémon from other regions being…found here.

"It was maddening. We wanted to find these guys. We even started putting out rewards one day for any information that could help the case and bring the monsters in charge to face justice. For a while, nothing was helping, and it seemed pretty hopeless. But finally, one day, we got a tip from someone saying they'd seen a strange white Pokémon running through the woods near Mt. Moon, and they couldn't identify it, but it looked injured. We sprung into action immediately.

"We sent word to our Pokémon Ranger partners to be on the lookout, and it wasn't long before one of them managed to find out it was an Absol that was running through the woods, and that it indeed had sustained some injuries. It had a cut leg, probably from getting caught in a trap…well, there were worse things, but again, it's not worth mentioning.

"We started tracking the Absol, hoping if we followed it, would catch the poachers red handed. And low and behold, we did. We discovered a guy putting out a trap for the poor thing, and we arrested him. It didn't take long for him to rat out his buddies in the hunting club, and soon enough, we had all of the warrants and arrests done. You'd think that would have been it.

"Strange thing is, we wanted to bring the Absol back to Hoenn, but none of us could catch it. Not even the best Pokémon rangers out there could get to him. And the ones that got close were constantly overpowered by this Pokémon. You see, Absol seems to have a strong disdain for humans now, and rightfully so. He was treated horribly by some; it makes sense he would go to such great lengths to hide and/or escape from them. And eventually, it was decided that maybe we should just leave him out in the wild.

"That was almost two years ago, so imagine my surprise when Nurse Joy calls my office late last night and tells me a coordinator's come in having captured a wild Absol from the Mt. Moon area…"

Drew pursed his lips and looked down for a moment, not really sure what he was feeling aside from overwhelmed. There was a lot of guilt and a whole lot of anger going through him, but he kept his face even and waited for Officer Jenny to continue speaking.

"By law, you own that Absol now," she explained. "You caught it and now it's your Pokémon, but I wanted to warn you, that's no ordinary Pokémon you've caught young man, and we're asking you to make a choice. You can keep it if you so choose, as it is your right to do so, or you can turn it over to the Pokémon Rangers, and they'll take it back to Hoenn and set it free."

Drew nodded, and took a few seconds to think it over. How could it be his choice? Just because he'd captured the Pokémon, it shouldn't have been up to him seeing as Absol wasn't even there by its own volition in the first place.

Drew had always given the Pokémon he'd met a choice, and that wasn't going to change, ever.

"Can I talk to Absol, first?"

* * *

The door to the back area of the Pokémon Center opened slowly, and Drew's Pokémon all perked up to see him walking through the door.

Absol watcher curiously as Drew walked up to his team and easily greeted all of them. It was a curious thing, to see how well these Pokémon respected him and how utterly content they were to be in his presence. Maybe everything they'd said about their trainer was true after all.

"Hey guys," Drew said, reaching down to pet Masquerain on the head. "You're looking good, Masquerain. You fought really hard and I'm proud of you for it. You guys all keep it up, and the Grand Festival is going to be a breeze."

Flygon, Roselia and Masquerain all cheered and agreed.

Out of the corner of his eye, Absol looked as Nurse Joy peaked her head through the door and called to Chansey to leave the room, so Drew could be alone with his Pokémon, and with Absol.

"Hey," Drew's voice called to Absol from the front of the bed it was on.

Absol whipped his head back to see Drew facing him, his hands put up slowly in a surrender position. Absol watched carefully, no expression on his face.

"You're looking better now," Drew commented. "How are you feeling?"

Absol's eyes peaked over to the far corner of the room, where Drew's Pokémon all looked on encouragingly. With a little apprehension, Absol gave a short nod to Drew.

"Good, I'm glad," Drew smiled, disarming the Absol entirely. "I see you've met my friends over there, which is good. I wanted to meet you, too. My name is Drew, and I wanted to talk to you."

Drew reached back and pulled a chair to Absol's bedside. He took a seat slowly, careful not to startle Absol in any way for any reason.

"I heard about what you've been through," Drew explained. "And I'm really sorry for all of it."

Drew tentatively reached out his hand to try to pet Absol again. Absol jerked his head back out of instinct, and Drew's eyes showed understanding as he slowly pulled his hand back.

Absol continued to stare at Drew blankly. He'd never had a pleasant encounter with a human. He'd never experienced one calmly talking to him before. His first encounter with humans had been when he was young, but he remembered it vividly. He could recall being dragged away from his own mother and being powerless to do anything quite well.

"You can go back home if you want to, you know," Drew said when he saw the faroff look in Absol's eyes. "You have a choice here, Absol; you can go back home into the wild, or you can come with us."

Drew gestured back to his team in the corner, and Absol looked over at them again. All of them seemed happy. From what they had told him, they loved what they got to do, and they loved being with Drew. They'd said nothing but nice things about him, and how amazing of a trainer he was. How he was always the first to encourage them after they felt defeated, and how he respected them.

How he had given all of them the choice; the same choice that Drew was giving him now.

Absol had never had the choice.

He was taken away from his family without a say in the matter. He was forced to learn how to survive on his own, and to constantly run from the ones who'd taken him. He never had the option to live differently.

Now, he could choose.

"You're not 100 percent back to where you should be," Drew informed him. "Nurse Joy said you should stay another day in here before you're all healed up. You won't be alone, though; my friends are going to stay, too, so they can get all checked up for our next contest. I'm sure they've already told you about those."

Drew looked back and laughed lightly when all of his Pokémon nodded in affirmation.

"I actually have to go and try to get some sleep, because I've been up for a long time, and it's been pretty crazy," Drew clarified. "I'll be back to get you guys later; we're going to Mulberry City, because they have a contest next week. We're probably all a little ready to earn our next ribbon."

Drew's Pokémon cheered once again, and he felt a warm feeling in his stomach. He loved his Pokémon so much, and he was forever thankful they supported him in his dream. Drew had enough of searching for a new Pokémon. If Absol stayed with them that was great, but if he didn't, Drew knew the incredible partners he had could get him where they needed to go.

He stood to stretch a little, taking one last look at his partners, bidding them a nice goodbye and promising he would be back to see them in a few hours.

"Whatever you choose, make sure it's what _you_ want, Absol," Drew emphasized. "You do what you need to do to be happy, okay?"

Absol's eyes followed Drew as he vanished through the door.

* * *

True to his word, Drew appeared a few hours later, looking a lot better than he had before.

Drew went back to his hotel, jumped in the shower and crashed the second his head hit the pillow. He slept heavily for a few hours before waking up, eating a quick lunch and heading back over to the Pokémon Center.

While he had been gone, Roselia explained to Absol that Drew never really liked to leave his Pokémon's sides, and if one of them had to be in the Pokémon Center for any reason, they would have to work to convince Drew to leave them if he needed to focus on anything else.

Drew truly cared for his Pokémon, and Absol could see that.

Drew gave Absol the space he wanted, never pushing his boundaries with the dark type. He stayed respectfully on the other side of the room, but was sure to include Absol in their conversations, though he didn't actively participate right away.

What intrigued Absol the most was when Drew requested a television screen be brought into the room, because he and his Pokémon wanted to watch one of those contests Absol had heard so much about in the last few hours. After Drew had broken the news that they were heading for the next one as soon as Masquerain cleared his checkup, it was practically all the three of them had talked about until he came back.

The concept was interesting, and Drew noticed Absol's curiosity.

When Chansey pushed the big screen on a cart into the room, Drew made sure it was placed at the foot of Absol's bed. Then he sat back down into the seat he'd placed next to him hours before, and Drew's other Pokémon gathered around to watch as well.

The latest contest from Vermilion City was recorded just hours before. Absol watched as the concepts of the contest were explained; appeals, battles, judges, scores, all of it. It all seemed simple enough.

Finally, the appeal round began, and Absol watched as multiple coordinators and their Pokémon worked together in ways he'd never seen before, or even though possible. He was utterly amazed.

He noticed how Roselia perked up and Drew leaned forward when a pink-haired girl stood on the stage and waved to the crowd before releasing her Pokémon and beginning her act.

"Ha, and she said she was gonna slow down," Drew and Roselia laughed together. "Solidad is incapable of slowing down, huh?"

They watched the rest of the contest with Drew making a few comments here and there, his Pokémon agreeing and watching just as intensely.

Absol all the while was amazed at it all.

During a commercial break, Drew asked Absol if he wanted to see Drew's first Kanto ribbon: the symbol of Drew and his Pokémon's hard work in one of these contests. Absol nodded slowly, and Drew grinned while pulling out his ribbon case and showing Absol what a genuine ribbon looked like.

"When you earn five of these, you go to the ultimate contest called the Grand Festival," Drew explained. "It's like what we're watching, only bigger and better. It's where the best of the best face off. It's the ultimate goal for any coordinator."

* * *

A few hours later, Nurse Joy entered the room with a clipboard in her hand, smiling big and walking right up to Masquerain's bed.

"You're cleared," Nurse Joy announced happily. "Drew, if you'll just sign this form, then I'll discharge Masquerain. Absol needs one more night, but he should be good in the morning."

Drew nodded, and signed his name on the consent form to take Masquerain home. Masquerain more than happily fluttered off of the bed and landed on Drew's shoulder.

"Excellent," Nurse Joy took back the clipboard. "I'll call you in the morning when Absol is all ready to go."

"No need," Drew brushed off her offer. "We're gonna stay here tonight."

"Oh, alright, I understand," Nurse Joy nodded. "I'll go get some extra blankets for you guys."

Nurse Joy disappeared from the room, and Drew turned back towards Absol, who'd grown quite used to his presence, but still not willing to let him touch him.

"Do you want to watch another contest?"

Absol nodded.

* * *

In the morning, Drew signed another consent paper, and all of Drew's Pokémon walked with him through the hall and out into the lobby.

Officer Jenny was waiting out there, and Absol paused.

Drew and his team went to stand a little ways to the side of her, and Drew looked down at Absol.

"It's time for you to choose, Absol," Drew clarified when the Pokémon looked back and forth between the two parties. "It's up to you."

Absol looked over at Drew and his team. He'd gotten to know them pretty well, and he knew how genuinely happy Drew's Pokémon were to be with him.

In the last few hours, Drew had shown Absol not all humans were terrible. He'd opened Absol's eyes to the possibilities of what humans and Pokémon could do if they worked together. Drew had shown Absol that he understood what compassion was, and that he was an excellent trainer.

Drew smiled when Absol walked up to him and his other Pokémon, putting his head underneath one of Drew's hands. Drew petted Absol on the head, and briefly looked over to Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy. Officer Jenny nodded with a content smile on her face, and Nurse Joy looked like she was going to burst into tears at the heartwarming sight.

Finally, Drew got down on his knees to be eye-level with Absol.

"Welcome to the team."


	19. Chrysanthemum Island

**Chrysanthemum Island–** In which Drew earns another ribbon and meets up with May, who has to battle (quite possibly) his biggest fan for her third ribbon.

 **Author's notes:**  
\- We're rolling right along. Kind of insane to think I went almost nine months without being able to post an update, and in the last month, I've been able to write and post four chapters.  
\- Some of you might notice that I'm kind of rushing through Kanto. Well, the thing is, in the anime, when we followed May's journey, Drew didn't pop up quite as much throughout their time there. And the closer we got to the Grand Festival, the more significant his role was. We didn't get to see Drew much in Kanto, and it's a shame. I'm still hoping we'll see him again some day. (I don't actually watch the show anymore, but I'd tune in to see an episode with the OG coordinators come back. Didn't they just bring back Brock and Misty recently or something?)  
\- Another thing someone has asked me about is some of the cities I've talked about in this story, and how they don't recognize them from the games. If you research Kanto in the anime, they had multiple "anime-exclusive" places in the show, and that's where I'm pulling some of these cities and towns. It's the same concept with Drew's hometown. He was from LaRousse in the show, which didn't actually exist outside of the show.  
\- I'm ranting now. Let's continue.  
\- Based on the episode, "Spontaneous Combusken!"  
\- Mentions of the episodes, "Weekend Warrior" and "Harley Rides Again!"  
\- Café au lait: coffee with hot milk added.

* * *

"And the winner is Drew Hayden from LaRousse City!" Lillian shouted to the delight of the people in the stadium.

Drew smiled and waved to the deafening crowd, and stepped forward to center stage where he met Mr. Contesta. The director of the contest committee smiled warmly as he placed the shiny Fuchsia City Contest ribbon, and he knelt down to place one more on Roselia. Drew had gone through the whole contest with just her, and she had never performed better.

In the last two battle rounds, Drew had gone up against seriously skilled trainers. One of them he'd had a short conversation with backstage.

His name was Kaleb, and he wasn't actually a coordinator. Kaleb liked competing in contests when he could, because he said he drew a lot of inspiration for combinations he often used in gym battles. When Drew met up with him in the semi finals, he was thrown for a loop, because he wasn't used to battling trainers specifically going for the knockout in contest battles. At the end of the day, Roselia had proved to be the stronger in the match between her and Kaleb's Jolteon, and Drew advanced to the finals.

There, he faced off against a coordinator named Annie. She was a sweet yet powerful girl, who he'd also interacted with in the waiting area after her semifinals match. Though she came on a little stronger than he'd felt comfortable with.

"I know who you are," she said, sitting on the bench opposite and facing him down with some kind of strange glint in her eyes. "You're Drew Hayden, one of Hoenn's best, huh?"

"I am," Drew said, quirking an eyebrow. "And you are?"

"Annie," she said, blowing a bubble out of chewing gum and popping it. "The girl you're going to lose to."

"We'll see," Drew stated. "It'll be a good match."

"Oh trust me, boy, you won't even know what hit you," she said with a wink.

Annie crossed one leg over the other and leaned forward a little, and Drew looked down at Roselia, who gave him a wary look right back.

"Whatcha doing after the contest?" Annie asked between popping bubbles.

"I'm not sure?" Drew said a little flustered.

Annie stood up and moved to sit next to him on his bench now. She was a little close; so much so, that their knees were almost touching. It was…weird. Drew knew he had fan girls, but this was a little too close to his personal space. Roselia watched the exchange, unsure of what to do.

"I've never hung out with a dude from Hoenn before," she said. "I could show you around town after our match if you want."

"That's nice, but I think we're gonna be heading out after–"

"Oh c'mon," Annie leaned on his shoulder, giving him a pout. "Don't leave me hanging here."

"Sorry to interrupt," a voice cut in, making the girl jump and look up at the doorway. "Drew's actually already got plans with me."

Solidad stood in the doorway of the waiting room with one hand on her hip and a polite smile locked on her lips. Like Drew's knight in shining armor, she approached the two and Annie backed up immediately, recognizing the older coordinator.

Earlier in the day, Solidad and Drew had met up in Fuchsia City. She had been there visiting some old friends when Drew informed her that he was going there for the upcoming contest. Solidad said she would hang around to watch him compete, and they could catch up after the contest. She needed a break from training for the Grand Festival, as she'd qualified with her fifth ribbon almost a month prior.

Drew stood up to meet her and hoped his grateful stare towards his friend signaled his thanks to her. Solidad gave him a slight nod when she came to stand in front of the two. Annie shuffled to her feet quickly as well, all her confidence seemingly gone.

"I think we've met before," Solidad said, extending her arm out to shake the young girl's hand. "Back at…where was it, Pewter City? You're really familiar to me."

"Yeah, it was Pewter's first contest," Annie awkwardly shook hands with Solidad. "You knocked me out in round one."

"Gosh, that was so long ago," Solidad mused. "Well, it's nice to see you again. Drew and I are going to go get coffee afterwards if you're interested in tagging along!"

"Oh, no, that's okay," Annie replied, slowly stepping back. "My Pokémon and I will probably just head home to rest up. It was good to see you again and thanks for the offer. I guess I better go get ready for the battle in a few minutes."

With that, Annie shuffled out of the door and Drew assumed she went to hang out in the other waiting room. Relieved yet slightly embarrassed, he muttered a quick apology to his older friend.

"No problem," she laughed a little. "I was coming back to ask you where you wanted to meet up when you're done, but when I saw that girl all over you and your face turning red, I figured I should intervene."

"My face was not red," Drew grumbled.

"Sure, sure," Solidad laughed again.

A voice sounded off over the intercom that the media time out was about to end, and that the finalists needed to be prepared to take the stage.

The battle lasted the whole five minutes, and Drew and Roselia had a few close calls against Annie's Delibird. The ice-flying Pokémon had two distinct advantages over Drew's grass type, and he won the battle mostly by utilizing defensive counters. Neither Pokémon went down during the fight; it was all about points falling, and Drew managed to keep a strong majority.

Annie seemed shocked to lose when she should have had the upper hand, but she had already known who Drew Hayden was, and she shook his hand before she left all together.

"I understand that this is your final ribbon, is that correct?" Mr. Contests asked Drew.

"Yes sir, this is it," Drew answered.

"Excellent," Mr. Contesta nodded. "I'm looking forward to all you'll display at our Grand Festival."

"This is Drew's fifth ribbon, ladies and gentlemen!" Lillian announced to the crowd when Mr. Contesta backed away from the winner. "He's one of the first few to qualify for our Grand Festival in just a few short months! Let's hear it one more time for Drew and his amazing team!"

* * *

Three months to go, and they would be competing against each other in the Kanto Grand Festival.

For the present moment, though, Drew and Solidad sat as friends, chatting easily about how the season had gone, and what they wanted to accomplish before the ultimate contest.

"Apparently only 14 others have qualified so far this season," Solidad commented. "Pretty insane to think how high that number is gonna go up in the next few weeks."

"They've gotta fill up those contestant spots," Drew agreed.

Solidad carefully stirred a little vanilla powder into her iced coffee, and Drew waited patiently for his café au lait too cool down a little more. The sun was still high in the sky, and Fuchsia City was experiencing record high temperatures that year.

"I can't believe you're drinking hot coffee when it's so hot outside," Solidad shook her head, taking a tester sip of her iced brew.

"Heat doesn't bother me," Drew explained. "Spend the first 13 years of your life in Hoenn, you just kind of get used to it."

"We're definitely not in Hoenn," Solidad said. "What are you going to be doing from now until the Grand Festival? Will I see you again before then?"

"Who knows?" Drew responded. "I'll try to catch a few contests here and there, but really I just want to start training. I think for the next few days, I'll give my Pokémon a break, though."

"For sure," Solidad sipped. "Three contests in two weeks. You're insane."

"Says the coordinator who earned her five ribbons in under three months?"

"Touché."

The season in Kanto so far had been a whirlwind.

After catching Absol, Drew and his team got straight back to work. They took the Mulberry City Contest head on, and it felt like there hadn't even been a gap in between the time since their first contest and the time it took him to find Absol.

When they'd first started training together, Absol was still a little hesitant to completely go with Drew. He held back the potential of some of his attacks, and Drew could understand why. He didn't push his new Pokémon too hard, though; it was all an adjustment, and Drew vowed to be as patient as he'd need to be.

The patience paid off, and over the last few weeks, Absol was shining beautifully in their private practice sessions. Drew explained to Absol early on that he wanted him to learn how contests really worked before he would actually compete, and while he was training onside Drew's much more seasoned teammates, Absol couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. He was content to wait until he was ready.

That was how the last few weeks had gone, though; Drew working with his old partners for contests, and working in private with his new one.

When Solidad had earned her final ribbon, Drew felt the need to push a little harder to get his qualification for the Grand Festival as well. He and his team blasted through the region, entering three contests back to back to back. He rationalized with them that they would do one final push, and then they would take a nice break before they started training solely for the festival. They all agreed, and all the hard work paid off.

"I wonder where all our other friends are in their ribbon counts," Solidad thought out loud.

"May picked up her second one in Silver City a few weeks ago," Drew casually mentioned.

Solidad frowned a little bit.

"Harley earned his fourth ribbon today in Wisteria Town," she said carefully.

"I actually forgot that one was today," Drew sipped his drink. "I'll have to watch it later."

Solidad's eyes were down on her drink. Drew gave her a suspicious look.

"Why are you making that face?" he questioned.

"Harley beat May today."

Drew's eyes widened a little bit. As far as he'd known, May hadn't lost to Harley yet. He hoped it hadn't been due to lying or manipulation, though knowing Harley's past, he wouldn't have put it past him. The thought of dishonest coordinating was sour to him.

Though Drew had never explained why, Solidad knew he had a certain disdain for her quirky friend, and she didn't know how Drew would react knowing someone he cared about lost to him.

"Huh," Drew finally said after a few moments of silence. "I'll have to watch it later."

"So May's still at two ribbons?" Solidad asked.

"Yes," Drew stated. "But she's got time. She'll be alright."

"I think so, too," Solidad brightened when she saw Drew's confidence in his rival.

"I know you watched the Silver City contest," Drew continued. "Her Squirtle had an excellent appeal, and that was only its second time competing. Not to mention her Combusken is getting stronger every time I see it; I'm surprised it hasn't evolved yet."

"Truth is, I watched a bit of the contest today," Solidad admitted. "May looked good, Harley just had an upper hand. You'll get it when you watch it, but I think with those two on our heels, we'd better watch ourselves in the Grand Festival."

"Yeah, no kidding."

* * *

Early in the morning, Drew and Flygon set out on a short flight to Chrysanthemum Island. The island was home to a world famous resort, and Drew wanted to treat his Pokémon after weeks of solid work.

As an added bonus, Chrysanthemum Island had a contest coming up. Drew's Pokémon could be free to relax and play with other Pokémon at the exclusive section of the resort just for them, and he could go watch the contest. The rest of the season was about preparing for the ultimate contest, and a part of that included observing his opponents. That, and he simply loved attending contests in general.

His Pokémon were delighted when they first arrived. It wasn't clear whether they were more excited about the change of pace, or where they were. Maybe they were equally excited about both, but it didn't matter. After all they'd done for him the last few weeks, Drew was elated to see them looking so happy.

The first day they were there, he registered them at the resort's Pokémon club. They'd arrived in town a little past noon, and the club was to shut down early that evening since it was a Sunday. Drew figured his Pokémon could at least get acquainted to the facility for a few hours, and if they liked it, he would bring them back the next day.

To his delight, when he'd arrived promptly 30 minutes before closing to pick them up for the day, all of his team practically sang their approval of the place. They happily waved goodbye to their fellow Pokémon as they exited, and Drew promised them he'd bring them back first thing in the morning when the doors opened. Even Absol, who was still adjusting to being in such crowded environments, seemed to approve, which warmed Drew.

On the second day, Drew had more time to kill, and he settled into a local café on the beach with a pair of headphones and a contest feed pulled up. He'd never gotten around to watching the Wisteria Town contest from a few days prior, partly because there was a part of him that didn't want to watch May lose. He'd seen her take losses in the past before, and he couldn't imagine how losing to Harley for the first time must have felt to her.

During the evening, he realized it might benefit him to put his feelings to the side and actually study just how Harley had done it. Know your enemy, as they said…

Watching the contest turned out to be a good thing, because even though it did suck to watch May lose, it was a good battle, and he took a lot from it. Most notably, he learned Harley had an Octillery in his party, and a pretty mean looking one at that. May's Munchlax did its best in its contest debut, and though May was visibly disappointed, she seemed to understand, and looked to be at peace with the loss.

He even saw her standing there on the stage clapping as Harley received his fourth ribbon. Harley could learn a thing or two about sportsmanship from her.

And her Munchlax had truly preformed beautifully. He didn't know how suited it was for appeal rounds, but it was for sure a heavy hitter in the battle rounds. Drew made a mental note to watch for that as well.

He spent the rest of the day studying footage from he and his teams practice rounds. Though he openly dropped off his Absol at the day care, he made sure no one could see the footage of his newest Pokémon that he was watching on his PokéNav. Secrecy was very important to him, and he was going to be damn sure no media caught on that he had a new partner unlike in Hoenn, when _Coordinator's Weekly_ had actually caught him and Vibrava. So far that season, he'd been in the clear.

Drew had been so focused on what he was doing, that had he not set an alarm to go pick up his team for dinner time, he would have been late in doing so. He strolled back to the day care center and grabbed his teammates, looking more bright and chipper than they had the first day. They were having a great time, and they still had a few more days to enjoy themselves. Drew thanked the woman working at the front desk when she handed him back his credit card, and bid her goodnight, making sure their reservations for the next day were still in place.

On the third sunny day on Chrysanthemum Island, things changed up a little bit.

When Drew brought his Pokémon back to the clubhouse, Roselia stayed at his side. She wanted to spend the day with him, because she could tell that he'd spent the entire previous day working, and she demanded he take some time off as well. If they were going to enjoy themselves, then so was he. He smiled down at his stubborn starter, and finally agreed to let her tag along.

Drew hadn't planned anything different for the day, but knowing Roselia wasn't going to let him do anything contest-related, he needed to find something to fill the time for them.

The morning was bright and clear – a perfect day to soak up some sunshine for a grass type. Drew was strolling near the beach to try to find a good, less crowded place for them to relax, but seeing as the Chrysanthemum contest was set to begin the next day, coordinators were out in full force getting their last minute training in.

They strolled past the huge contest hall, weaving in between coordinators and bystanders hoping to get a sneak preview of the coming action.

Roselia pointed to a small park across the way, with bushes covered in colorful flowers that she seemed keen to go check out. She reached out her rosebud hand and grabbed up at Drew's, dragging him along while he was laughing at her excitement.

"Alright, we're going, we're going!" he smiled.

Roselia stood by the bushes, examining and admiring all the variety she was seeing. It was truly a magnificent display; the town's tourism department did a great job sprucing up this little park in a beach-heavy town.

"Now, Sceptile, use bullet seed!"

 _No way_.

Drew's head whipped back behind him, and Roselia's eyes darted over quickly as well to see May standing by all her friends, all surrounding a very dejected looking Pokémon. Roselia snickered to herself; she didn't want Drew doing anything contest related…but didn't make a move to stop him when he casually started walking towards the red-clad coordinator.

The rose Pokémon simply turned her head and focused back on her flowers, all the more happy she'd found this spot and that the stars had aligned for her trainer, just as they always seemed to when he got to see that girl.

"Hey, c'mon, you can do those moves!" Ash encouraged, though it came out a little harsh in Drew's opinion. "You have to try harder! Get that stuff out of your mind and do it!"

Drew didn't know what exactly was going on with Ash's Pokémon, but he did know that it clearly had a lasting impact on him, and Ash wasn't handling it the way he should have been.

"You're just making it worse, you know," Drew called out as he approached. "You're not thinking about it from Sceptile's point of view."

May jumped a little, and leaned around Sceptile to get a better view of her rival. Drew smirked back at her puzzled face.

"It's Drew," she spoke softly, as if she herself couldn't believe she was seeing him.

He looked at her for a few seconds. It had been a while since they'd run into each other. A few months, even. Back in Hoenn, they seemed to see each other a lot more often. Here in Kanto, it had been a different story.

Drew kept up with her progress, though. He'd watched out for her in contests, though he had no luck in running into her. And she had only competed in three of them so far that season, so trying to watch her compete online had been equally as difficult.

But now there she was, after what felt like so long, right in front of him. It felt like a reunion of sorts, and he could feel his heart elevate at seeing her again.

Arceus, she made him feel so many things.

Drew had long come to terms that he'd felt something beyond a simple rivalry or a friendship with her. No one else had ever made him feel what she had, and she may or may not have realized it. It was probably better if she didn't.

After a moment, May's eyes lit up as if she remembered something. She began pulling her small fanny pack around and digging in it for something. Meanwhile, Sceptile sighed audibly, and Drew's attention shifted to the tall green Pokémon. He couldn't understand why, but this Pokémon seemed to be struggling with something pretty intense. Drew knew more than anything, this Pokémon needed some reassurance.

"Telling your Pokémon to try harder only gives them more stress," Drew explained, stepping forward and placing a calming hand on Sceptile. "And you don't need that, right?"

Sceptile looked at Drew with tired eyes, but there was some gratitude deep down in them, and Drew smiled warmly up at the Pokémon.

She'd seen it before, but seeing the rare soft side of Drew always threw her for a loop. She watched carefully as he gently reassured a Pokémon that wasn't even his, for no reason other than to be kind. She pursed her lips, not wanting to break up the tender moment, but also deeply curious about the card and the rose in her hands.

"Uh, hey, Drew?" May said a little hesitantly. "Did you send this to me?"

"Huh?" Drew questioned.

He turned to face her, seeing the card she held up in one hand, and the rose in the other down at her side.

A rose? That healthy looking? Drew hadn't given May a rose in…a while. Even if she'd kept the ones he'd given her, there was no way it could stay alive that long. He stared at the rose for a few seconds, and something felt off.

Something inside of him made his chest feel hallow, like it was suddenly empty. A strange anxiety crept its way into his veins, and he was unsure of why this small, red rose threw him off so badly for a second.

He forced his eyes to look up at the white piece of paper in her hands, and he swallowed.

Was…was someone else sending May roses? The thought devastated him.

"See, I'd love to be in the contest with you, but mark my words, this time I'm gonna beat you, get it!" she said, determined and clearly missing the feelings of dread that slowly filled him.

"Except I didn't send that…" Drew admitted out loud.

Surprise overtook May's face, and she looked back down at the things in her hands before looking back up to him, confused.

Though Drew felt as though he was having an existential crisis, he didn't want May's group to know that. So he kept talking.

"C'mon, that's not my style," he put on a fake smirk to hide his panic, and flicked his hair for good measure. "You should know that."

"We should, huh?" the group asked at once, and May's eyes fell back to the strange note in her hands.

His face burned and he knew he was blushing in embarrassment. Not only did this situation already suck, but now he was humiliated in front of her and her friends. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath trying to get the heat to leave his face.

What was she thinking? Was she relieved to know that it hadn't come from him? Was she upset? He couldn't tell; her face was so blank.

It was driving him crazy. He had to figure this out.

No one was speaking; everyone was so focused on that damn note.

"Truthfully, I'm not even going to be in this Pokémon contest," he filled the silence.

That grabbed May's attention. She looked back up to him in surprise.

"You're not?" she asked.

"I've been in so many contests lately, my Pokémon are wiped," he responded truthfully. "So we came to Chrysanthemum Island for a little R and R."

"R and R?" May said, a little sadly. "Go figure."

Why did she seem upset now? Could it have been because he wasn't entering the contest? Did she actually miss competing with him? Truth be told, he couldn't wait to be in a contest with her again. It was only a matter of time before they'd face off again, but now the longing look on her distracted face told him maybe…she had similar _thoughts_ as well?

His brief moment of potential contentment was cut short when she looked back down at the note still in her hands. Arceus did he hate that little piece of paper so much.

"But if you didn't send me this, I wonder who did…"

"We were so sure it was you," Ash explained, and Drew looked over at him.

Drew just shrugged, implying he hadn't the slightest clue, and was just as lost as they were.

"It is strange," Brock mused. "Maybe one of your other rivals is here at the contest, May?"

"Maybe…" May wondered.

"Can I see the note?" Drew suddenly asked.

May's eyes darted back up to him.

"Oh, uh, I guess, here ya go," she said handing it over to him.

He didn't miss how she looked back down to the rose in her hands when he took the paper, and he tried to push down the feelings that made him feel indifferent. Drew carefully unfolded the note. It was a simple card, nothing fancy.

 _Dear May,  
I look forward to seeing you again in the Chrysanthemum Contest._

That was it; that was the entire note said. It had no signature at the bottom, and it gave no indication as to who could of sent it, or why they did. But in that rose in her hands meant anything, Drew felt that sense of dread just pulling at his heartstrings.

He handed it back to her slowly, and their eyes met for a moment.

"I have no idea, May."

"Well, who ever sent it has got to be here, right?" Max rationalized. "I'm sure we'll know soon enough."

"Max is right," Brock added. "There's no need to stress about it. We've got to get going, though."

"Hm?" May looked over to her older friend.

"It's almost 10, which means we've got to go get you singed up for the contest tomorrow," he explained.

"Oh my mew, you're right!" May exclaimed, shoving the note and the flower back into her pack and switching them out for her contest pass. "Come on, guys!"

The group all turned to take their leave, leaving Drew standing there to watch them go.

May was the only one to turn back and wave.

"Bye, Drew! We'll see you later!"

* * *

Roselia took matters into her own hands.

After seeing Drew standing there, even after May and her friends had left, Roselia knew that something had happened. Her trainer seemed extremely confused and dismayed, and Roselia knew she needed to do something. So she once again took Drew by the hand and led him back towards the hotel they'd been staying at.

They made their up to their room, and Roselia began rifling through Drew's bag looking for something. He watched her search for whatever, about to speak, when she found what she was looking for and threw his pair of swimming shorts at his face. He caught the bathing suit as it rolled off and looked up to see her pointing out the window down stairs to the pool area.

She then gestured to the bathroom so he could change, and pointed up at the clock, implying she was giving him a few minutes to change and that they would be heading down there to relax.

Drew nodded, and pushed down his weird, jealous feelings. This week was about what his Pokémon wanted and he was going to honor that no matter what.

In truth, the sunshine felt good on his skin.

Not really one for swimming, Drew and Roselia found a pair of pool chairs side by side, and each of them claimed one and laid out in the sun. Drew was sure to put on plenty of sunblock, and he put on protective cream for his Roselia as well, just to help keep her body from drying up. Grass types loved the sunshine, but too much of a good thing…

They'd been lounging for almost an hour. Roselia basked in the warmth of the outdoor air, and Drew did his best to stay as calm as possible.

But that note and that rose, and May's strange looks remained prominent in his mind. He couldn't ignore them, and it sucked. Roselia didn't seem to notice, though, so he was doing a pretty good job of hiding it. He kept his face turned up towards the sky and his eyes closed, trying to think of anything but May and someone else sending her roses…

"Drew!" May's voice called out to him.

He wasn't imagining that.

Roselia looked up from behind him, and Drew turned his head to see May jogging towards him, a little girl right at her side, both clearly ignoring the "no running by the pool" signs. Her mood looked a lot more like her usual upbeat self as she came up to him, and the little girl looked like she was about to pass out. It the second strange encounter for the day.

"May, what's up?" he tried to sound casual, waiting for her to explain.

May stepped to the side so Drew could see the young girl she was with better, and May extended her hand out to emphasize her presence.

"I've got a new friend," May explained. "Her name's Brianna; she's a big fan of yours who became a coordinator after watching you perform."

This wasn't the first time he'd heard that story. He'd heard dozens of people over the years he'd been coordinating tell him the exact same thing. Or post about it online in contest forums he'd peaked at from time to time. This young girl wasn't the first he'd encountered who he'd inspired unintentionally.

But there was a nervous energy that radiated off this poor girl, like if he looked at her long enough, her soul would leave her body and ascend. She was visibly shaking, and May looked down at her young new friend with a soft understanding. May gave him a quick glance that screamed 'c'mon, I know this isn't your thing, humor her.'

Of course he would. This girl didn't seem like a crazed fan; just a painfully shy little girl with big hopes and dreams. How could he ever turn that down?

"Wow, you did?" Drew gasped while standing, and May gave him a big, encouraging smile. "Hey, thank you!"

Brianna clasped her hands together and looked at him in shock, like her brain couldn't process that her idol was actually speaking to her.

"It's–it's nice to meet you…" she squeaked out.

"And it was Brianna who sent me that card!" May took over when Brianna struggled to speak.

A weight felt like it had been lifted off of his shoulders, and his body suddenly was released from the tense state it had been in for a while now. Brianna sent May that card that that rose. This sweet little girl was the one who did it; not some secret admirer from afar who was going to confess their feelings towards May at this contest and–

He stopped the thought before it finished in his head. He didn't want to ever have to picture anything like that again. It felt like it physically pained him.

Alas, the mystery had been solved and with a happy ending. He kept his face even to hide the utter electricity of joy that was jolting him from within.

Brianna seemed like she'd been shocked as well, because she jumped a little bit when her accident have been acknowledged.

"I didn't sign my name and I feel like such a total fool!" she cried, her face somehow growing more red.

With his mood effectively lifted, and Roselia moving to stand beside him, Drew's confidence felt renewed.

"You didn't do anything wrong; May just made another silly mistake," he teased, easing back into the conversation.

"There's only one person I knew who would send me something like that, _Mr. Rose_ ," she snapped back.

Drew's eyes bulged in shock at her comeback, and the flustered confusion returned in full force. What could that have possibly meant? Why was her tone so sharp? Did she not appreciate the roses he'd given her? His face heated up again, and he looked at her.

" _Mr. Rose_?" he questioned slowly.

Roselia nearly fell laughing at his side, and he could practically feel all the blood in his face. The two girls in front of him had to have seen him blushing, and Drew had never recalled a time when he'd felt so many different emotions in such a short period.

"Roselia…" he muttered down at his side.

She continued to giggle, and he tried to brush it off as best he could. At least the whole card situation was over with, he tried to tell himself.

Luckily, May's smile returned, and she turned back to face Brianna, not intent on pointing out Drew's blunder.

"You know, if you'd like to shake Drew's hand, I'm sure he'd love to," May said sweetly.

Brianna, more than ever, looked like she was going to die on that spot, and Drew gave her an encouraging grin.

"Yeah?" she said loudly, before quieting down again. "Really?"

"I'd be happy to!" Drew reassured her, stretching his hand outwards.

Brianna hesitated, but finally stepped forward and grabbed his hand. He shook it gently, and could still feel her palm trembling ever so slightly. This girl was precious, and for once, he wasn't bothered to be so loved by one of his fans. This girl was sweet, and he wished her well.

"It's so awesome to meet you…" Brianna admitted.

Once she let his hand go, she took a nervous step back to give him more space, which he appreciated. May, meanwhile, slid closer to him, a mischievous smile appearing. He looked at her warily for a minute, anticipating the mocking.

"You've done this before, right?" she asked him slyly.

He squinted his eyes at her; she was getting way too good at comebacks. For the third time that morning, Drew found himself embarrassed, and he bit his lip.

"And you talk too much…" he retorted quietly.

May kept that sneaky grin on her face and her eyes held his as she slid back, and Drew resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Oh wow, I did it!" Brianna looked down at her hand wearing a big smile.

There was a moment of silence that fell over the three of them. Brianna seemed too dazed to speak and May seemed like she was pondering more ways to be sarcastic with him. Drew didn't want to face more humiliation, and he worried that if he interacted with her more, Brianna might actually pass out right then and there. So he took the opportunity to leave.

"Bye, good luck at the contest," he bid the girls, and strolled back to the main lobby with Roselia.

"Thanks!" Brianna added from behind him. "Nice to talk to you!"

They made it back all the way back to their room. They still had a few hours before they could pick up the rest of Drew's Pokémon from the clubhouse. Drew walked to the front of his bed and stared down at it for a moment before falling face first onto the newly changed sheets and comforter.

Roselia just laughed.

He tried to block it out.

* * *

The sky was a fiery orange and sun was setting and Drew was walking back towards his hotel.

His Pokémon all had a full day of playing with their new friends at the clubhouse, and Drew decided to carry them back to their temporary home in their Pokéballs so they could rest up a bit before dinner. He kept his hands in his pockets as he occasionally looked out over the beach and to the horizon. The sunsets here were incredible.

"Hey, Drew," his attention was pulled from the scenery to see Brock walking opposite on the sidewalk.

"Oh, hey," Drew said, stopping to greet May's friend. "What are you up to?"

"Going to the market to pick up some things to cool for dinner," Brock said.

"Gotcha," Drew said, looking behind Brock a little further down the sidewalk.

Brock smiled at the young coordinator, understanding.

"May's on the beach back down a ways with Ash and Max," Brock clarified. "She'd getting some last minute practicing in before tomorrow morning."

"Oh, good," Drew nodded, turning back to Brock. "That's smart; she'll probably do well tomorrow, then."

"So I take it you'll be going to the contest to watch then huh?"

"I was planning to, yeah," Drew nodded again.

"You should come sit with us and cheer May on tomorrow," Brock invited. "It'll be fun. I'm sure you could teach us a thing or two about contests."

Drew thought about it for a moment. He'd definitely felt like he knew May's little group a lot more than when he'd previously met up with them. Before, he'd had his hang ups about spending time with them, because he really hadn't known them that well. Now, he didn't have that excuse. While he wasn't close to them, he figured it couldn't hurt.

"That sounds good," Drew said. "I'll meet you guys in front of the east entrance to the stadium at 9:30."

"Great, we'll be looking for you," Brock grinned. "And if you want, you're welcome to join us for dinner tonight. I'm sure May and the others would love if you joined us."

Now that, for whatever reason, made him feel a little awkward. That seemed like three steps further, and while Drew appreciated the offer, he pursed his lips.

"Thank you, but I really have to get back and take care of my Pokémon," Drew declined politely. "But I'll catch you guys tomorrow morning."

"Oh, okay," Brock said a little more deflated. "But if you change your mind, we'll be picnicking on the beach. I'm sure May's going to stay up late and train."

"I'll keep that in mind. Have a good night."

Brock bid Drew farewell, and continued on his way to the market down the street.

Well, he tried. Maybe next time.

But hey, sitting together at a contest wasn't a bad first step.

* * *

Was there ever a cloud in the sky on Chrysanthemum Island?

Drew stood against a wall, patiently waiting for May's friends to arrive. He'd shown up at 9:20, just to be punctual. The contest was set to start at 10.

Chrysanthemum Island had a beautiful contest hall, set right on the beach. Because of the good weather, the stadium's roof was left open, allowing the sunshine to rain down on the stage. He'd thought about competing here earlier in the season, but he'd hit a streak of contests on the mainland and never actually made it. It was cool to finally see the arena in person, though. Solidad had won her third ribbon here, and she'd raved about how nice the facility was.

"Drew, hey!" Ash's voice came from his right.

He pushed himself off the wall to see May's friend's walking towards him, with eager smiles and lots of energy. May wasn't with them, probably already in the hall signing in and getting her things in order. They seemed to be laughing about something, or finishing up a previous conversation. Drew hoped they wouldn't be all high energy; he actually wanted to watch the contest.

"Good morning," Brock greeted easily. "It's a beautiful day for a contest in a stadium like this."

"It should be a good show," Drew agreed.

"I can't wait to watch May win it all!" Max buzzed.

"I can't wait to see some great battles!" Ash said, and his Pikachu cheered from his shoulder.

Both Drew and Brock watched for a minute as Ash and Max jumped up a little, and Ash's Pikachu looked like it was struggling to find balance on his trainer's shoulder while moving so much. It leapt softly into Brock's arms, who caught it naturally as if this was a regular occurrence. Drew and Pikachu made eye contact, and Pikachu smiled warmly.

"Well, why don't we get in and find some good seats," Brock offered when the other two seemed to settle down.

The group of four made their way into the hall, and Max and Ash's energy kept up as they wandered up a staircase to the center seating area. Brock and Ash walked side by side, and Max strolled next to Drew.

"May practiced really hard for this contest," Max whispered over to Drew. "When she found out you were here, she wanted to start training again right away. I think she wanted to show you how good she is."

"Really?" Drew looked down at Max, and didn't like the knowing smirk on the little boy's face. "That's–good, I guess."

The four boys made it into the stadium room. Brock fell by Drew's side while Max and Ash began to bicker about which seats were the best. They were early, and only a few observers had made it into the hall so far. They had a lot of seats to choose from, and Brock and Drew hung back while Max went off in one direction and Ash in the other.

"This happens at every contest," Brock commented with a small laugh. "We'll end up right over there, though, I guarantee it."

The coordinator's eyes watched as May's younger brother climbed over another row, inspecting the view and shaking his head, moving on to another spot. Ash, meanwhile, was running up the stairs, looking back, going down two rows, looking back, going up three rows, looking back…

After two minutes of this, both the boys ended up in the exact place Brock had already pointed to.

"Over here, guys, c'mon!" Max announced proudly.

Max and Ash claimed the seats to Brock's left, and Drew ended up sitting on Brock's right. He figured he'd get the best conversation out of the oldest one in the group.

Ash and Max immediately started chattering about which one of them found the seats, Brock occasionally throwing in a word or two.

It was an odd ritual that apparently happened often, and Drew might have thought it tedious and pointless had he not known them better. These people were definitely perfect travel companions for May. They matched her high energy and upbeat personality well.

Eventually, Drew and Brock struck up their own conversation. Drew inquired about Brock's passion for Pokémon breeding, and Brock congratulated Drew on already having his fifth ribbon for so early in the season. It was a pleasant experience for sure. Drew even found that he wasn't annoyed by Max or Ash butting into their talk every now and then.

Drew found he was surprisingly okay about being with them.

* * *

After a few minutes of good conversation, the stadium filled up to max capacity, and Lillian proceeded with starting the contest.

Yet again, the girl from Team Rocket appeared, moving to center stage to get her appeal started. Drew rolled his eyes and waited to see what would happen. A simple hula dance made up her entire performance.

"She's definitely racking up points for showing off Mime Jr.'s cuteness, but…" Brock mentioned during the first performance.

"She's not really showing off any of Mime Jr.'s moves," Drew finished for him. "This isn't something you normally see at contests, though. This seems like it belongs in a showcase in Kalos."

"Still, she's really playing into the theme of the town and culture here," Brock continued. "She's gonna be tough to beat."

"Mhm."

Lillian managed to usher the girl off stage and keep the momentum going.

"Presenting our next entry!" Lillian introduced by pointing to the entrance from stage left.

The four boys looked as May dashed out of the tunnel, a constant skip in her sprint to the stage. Max and Ash began wildly shouting encouragements to her. Brock kept a steady clap going, and Drew just smirked as her watcher her make her entrance. She raised a Pokéball in hand, and called out her partner.

With a nice twirl, she hurled her Pokéball into the air.

"Now, Munchlax, take the stage!" she commanded.

Munchlax popped out of its capsule and landed on the floor with a thud, taking a stance that screamed his eagerness to get started.

"Munchlax?!" Max cried in worry. "Aw, man, Munchlax has never done a real first round before!"

"Go for it, Munchlax, you can do it!" Ash yelled.

It was definitely an interesting choice. Munchlax had done well in the battle rounds of the last contest they'd entered. It was a powerhouse of a Pokémon that packed a nasty punch. But appeals were so different than battles, and Drew watched curiously to see what May was planning.

"Munchlax, use solar beam!"

Munchlax steadied itself and quickly shot off a bright solar beam straight up into the air, waving it's head back and forth slightly as if it were a spot light. Drew could tell the judges were impressed by just how quickly May's Pokémon could harness and release a move that normally took some charging up. It was a good opening to her appeal for sure.

"How did Munchlax get the energy for that solar beam so quick?" Ash wondered.

"Well, it could have been the sunrays," Brock answered, glancing upwards.

"The sunrays?" Ash and Max both looked up curiously.

"A strong source of sunlight not only makes a solar beam easy to get charged up, but fast as well," he explained to them.

"It was a good choice for an attack when you're on an outdoor stage at a resort like this," Drew said, keeping his eyes locked on May's performance.

Brock nodded, and May continued.

"Now, Munchlax, use metronome!"

Munchlax's fingers began to glow, and it waved its hands back and fourth attempting to summon an attack from an endless pool of possibilities.

"Not again," Max continued to whine. "Why in the world is May choosing metronome at a time like this?"

"She's taking a chance," Ash agreed. "Who knows what'll happen?"

May had used this technique before, and previously, Drew had never understood why any coordinator would think it was a good idea to use. But he had come to see this work in May's favor more than a few times, and he'd come to accept it as a part of her strategy.

"It's a chance, but I think it's worth it," Drew explained, moving his hair out of his eyes to get a better look. "If it works, it's a showcase. It puts your Pokémon in a great position."

May seemed to be at her best when she was forced to think on her feet. Using moves like assist and metronome tended to work for her, because they showed her ability to think on her feet. She'd impressed judges at her contests in the past with this strategy, and knowing her, she would probably do it again. The only question was, what was going to come out of it this time?

The white orbs expanded slowly, and the whole arena was filled with a white light that cleared as quickly as it had come. And Munchlax was asleep.

Well…that was unexpected for all parties involved.

The suddenly sleepy Pokémon dozed in the middle of the arena, snoring away to May's surprise.

"Well, well, it looked like that metronome gave us a rest attack!" Lillian called out.

Max and Ash leaned forward, the latter practically growling in frustration.

"Oh man, what's May gonna do?" Max almost panicked.

"Guys, don't worry," Brock said. "Remember what May practiced last night?"

Drew spared him a quick side-glance, curious, but waiting.

"Well at least one of us is getting some rest around here, but I don't think this is what May had in mind!" Lillian tried to fill the unexpected stillness of the appeal.

The judges seemed intrigued, which May had been counting on. She'd prepared herself incase something like this was to happen, and she reached for some Pokéblock in her back pocket.

"I had a feeling that something like this might happen," May smiled confidently. "It's a May's pink surprise!"

She tossed the pink cube up into the air, and amazingly, Munchlax jerked awake. The whole audience gasped as Munchlax leapt high into the air (higher than an Munchlax they'd ever seen go), and caught the treat in its mouth eagerly chewing it. The display really showcased Munchlax's personality, and that in itself made this a great appeal.

"Talk about a wake up call!" Lillian announced, delighted by the turn of events.

May wasn't done yet, though, and for the grand finale, she called for a focus punch as Munchlax began plummeting towards the stage.

In the most creative use of a fighting attack he'd ever seen in an appeal round, Drew watched in amazement as Munchlax aimed his fist down at the ground, and hit against the air, effectively slowing himself down on the descent. Munchlax used the momentum to flip over and land gently on his feet.

"A focus punch that lets you down easy!" Lillian concluded.

The crowd cheered for May, and the boys applauded as well.

"Awesome!" Max said.

"Now that's focus!" Ash added.

"And that's about as focused as you're gonna get," Drew complimented.

May smiled and waved to the audience, thanking them for their support as she took her queue from the stage director to exit.

Drew watched her until she disappeared from view.

There she went, impressing him yet again.

* * *

Brock was surprisingly a great commentator on contest appeals.

Where Max and Ash paid attention but more or less tuned the majority of them out after having seen May, Drew found it easy and almost natural to discuss the performances with Brock. The former gym leader wasn't a coordinator by any means, but he could clearly appreciate the art that coordinating was. It was refreshing, because typically, he only got to go in depth with Solidad.

Brianna had gone on shortly after May, and Drew didn't let the irony of her owning a Surskit slip past him. He was impressed when she had her Surskit convert the stage into an ice skating rink, and used agility to play around with the transformed space.

"Hey, that wasn't half bad!" Ash said, amazed at how high Brianna's Pokémon managed to jump.

"It's better than that," Drew partially corrected him. "She used the whole field, after all."

The Surskit landed with a delicate spin on the ground and stuck a final pose. The judges were enamored, and Brianna swelled with pride. Drew wondered how in the world this was the same shy girl he'd met just 24 hours prior to her performance. She radiated confidence on the stage, and he and May's group clapped for her along with the rest of the arena.

More coordinators came and went. Brock and Drew discussed more performances in depth as the contest's first round went on.

"That Hypno really has good control over its coin," Brock said at one point. "What a creative use of psychic."

"Blastoise is doing well, but I think it's holding back a little; it could probably shoot that hydro canon even higher," Drew mentioned during another appeal.

"What do you think that Castform would have done differently if the weather had been different today?" Brock asked. "Do you think they had a back up appeal planned?"

"Coordinators should always have a plan B," Drew informed him. "I can't imagine what Castform could have done in a closed roof environment, though."

It was nice to have someone to bounce ideas and commentary off of, and Drew was having a good time. The appeal round seemed to fly by, and before they knew it, Lillian was announcing the coordinators who were going to the battles.

"Alright, here are the eight coordinators who are moving on to round two!" Lillian gestured up to the big screen.

Both Brianna and May's pictures appeared on the second row. They'd locked their places in the battle rounds, though it wasn't surprising.

"Drew, how do you think May's doing today?" Max surprised him by asking.

He looked over at Max to see the genuine curiosity in his eyes.

Well, her appeal had been good, but that was only the half waypoint. He looked over to Brock.

"Is she using Munchlax in round two?" he asked.

"I think she told me she was going to use Combusken instead," Brock responded, sensing Drew's disappointment at the answer.

If it were him competing, he would have kept on fighting with Munchlax. It was obvious May had a great connection with her Combusken, and she preferred him in the battle rounds generally, but this didn't seem too well thought out. Making this switch was something he opposed, and it concerned him. He hoped she knew what she was doing, but making what seemed like a mistake was slightly frustrating, especially seeing how well she had been thriving in Kanto.

Maybe she was hesitant because of the tough loss Munchlax faced against Harley, and she was still recovering from it. But still, utilizing Munchlax's solar beam attack in this arena seemed like it would have been obvious.

It was annoying to him; she should have known better. He was frustrated because he wanted to see her succeed so badly.

"Hey, give me a break," Drew faced the group and spoke a little more bitterly than he intended. "Doesn't she remember that Munchlax's quicker in the sun? That's too bad; it would have given her a huge advantage. Sorry, but it looks like May messed up again."

May's friends seemed taken aback by his harsh words, but he wasn't trying to be insulting, just factual. Ash stared at him is disbelief, Max gasped and looked worried, and Brock smiled awkwardly, something knowing in his eyes.

"Gee, Drew, why don't you tell us how you really feel?" he teased slightly.

Drew's face flushed red, and he ducked away, turning back to the stage.

It felt like ever since he'd arrived on Chrysanthemum Island, all he'd done was embarrass himself.

* * *

After a somewhat messy first battle, May got herself back on track. She and her Combusken blasted their way to the final round, which wasn't as exciting as it should have been.

If anything, it was kind of worrisome.

Brianna was a wildcard no one saw coming. Outside of the contest hall, she was a meek little girl. On stage, she was on fire, a complete force to be reckoned with. She was a hurricane of force, pounding down her opponents with ease.

Her Vibrava was just as vicious as she was, and watching it battle reminded Drew when he'd first met and started working with his own Vibrava.

At one point during Brianna's second battle, Brock leaned over to Drew.

"You know, it just dawned on me, Brianna must really be a huge fan of yours," he whispered. "She gave May a rose, she's got a Surskit and a Vibrava just like your Masquerain and Flygon, and her battle style shows a lot of similarities. You must have really influenced her."

Of course Brock would have picked up on that, and Drew could only hum in response.

He was far too busy watching her battle, knowing May was going to have her hands full.

* * *

The stage was set, Lillian introduced the final two, and the two girls finally called out their Pokémon.

"Combusken, take the stage!"

"Okay, Vibrava, I chose you!"

These two girls were friends, but you wouldn't be able to tell if you hadn't previously known that. There was a strong tension in the air between them. Both of these girls wanted to win, badly. Somehow, this went beyond a ribbon.

"This is gonna be a great match," Ash spoke.

"Definitely!" Max responded. "May's gonna have to be careful against that Vibrava if she wants to win that ribbon."

"I think this is about more than a ribbon, Max," Brock threw out there.

Drew purposefully stayed silent. May was definitely in for a tough battle. Her Combsken was at a huge disadvantage against Vibrava. Any one of Vibrava's ground or flying attacks could be devastating. This is why she should have stuck with Munchlax…

The timer began.

"Now, Combusken, use quick attack!" May started things off.

Combusken darted towards Vibrava, but Briana reacted before her Pokémon could be hit. She commanded Vibrava to use a screech attack, and vibrating wings at an alarmingly high rate of speed. It seemed louder and faster than even his own Vibrava had been capable of before it evolved into Flygon. The vicious purple waves continued raining down with no signs of stopping. The wailing noises effectively stopped Cmbusken dead on spot. He drew his claws to his ears trying fruitlessly to block out the unbearable volume.

"That amazing motion of Vibrava's wings completely knocks me out; it's gorgeous," Drew commented. "Brianna's got herself a fantastic Pokémon."

"Combusken, stop that screech!" May ordered. "Fire spin, now!"

Against the strain of the deafening pitches, Combusken raised his head and quickly fired off a vortex of flames. While it wasn't exactly a strong move against a Vibrava, it shut down the noise and looked like a well-practiced attack. It wouldn't win the battle, but at least May was battling like a coordinator. Brianna's points took a significant hit.

"Now that's weird; I thought I thought fire type moves weren't that strong against ground type Pokémon," Brock questioned.

That was common knowledge, and Drew figured that Brock had to have been confused about the amount of points Brianna lost rather than how the type difference played a role in the scores.

"Yeah, and that's not good for May," Max chimed in.

"But you guys are forgetting something else," Drew never took his eyes off the battle. "It's not just about how much damage you cause, but also about how appealing you make your Pokémon attacks appear."

Brianna moved to strike back, ordering a beautiful dragon's breath strike against May's ongoing fire spin. The green flames barreled down and through Combusken's orange ones, and dissipated the attack all together. May jumped back a little, clearly not expecting this, and Brianna added a sand tomb to her combination attack.

Drew bit the inside of his cheek. He'd been waiting to see Brianna use this move, just as she had in her last two battles. She effectively trapped her opponents, the first time to finish the match with a knockout, and the second she just let struggle against the restraints, letting her opponent bleed his points away by struggling to escape her inescapable trap. Now it looked like she was going to do the same to May.

A whirlwind of sand formed around Combusken's lower body, and rapidly hardened into stone. Combusken panicked, and began desperately trying to flail himself free. The more he struggled, the more points he lost.

May clearly didn't like seeing her Pokémon struggle so much. Her face on the big screen showcased an array of fear and anxiety, and she tried to rack her brain for a way out of this tight spot. Even Drew tried to think of a way to escape, but wasn't succeeding. Combusken's strongest fire attacks would be useless.

That Brianna sure was some coordinator; how had she not won any ribbons yet?

"Combusken, sky uppercut!" May tried.

A fruitless command, Combusken still couldn't force himself out. May's points were suffering, and Drew leaned forward a little bit.

"Get out of there, Combusken!" May begged of her starter. "You can do it! I know you're strong enough to break free of that!"

Combusken continued to fight against its cage with everything it had. His trainer was counting on him, as she had so many times before, and he had never wanted to let her down.

The night before, when they were finishing up their last practice session on the beach, she and Combusken found themselves alone and watching the moonlight over the water. Munchlax was back in its Pokéball resting after working on their appeal, and now she and her starter sat quietly, on the eve of yet another contest.

She had told Combusken she wanted him to be her partner in the battle rounds, and that she trusted him to help her earn her third contest ribbon. Combusken in turn knew how much her loss a few days prior had gotten to her, and more than anything, he wanted to get her past that.

"You're gonna win it all, Combusken, I can feel it," she had said with a determined smile. "I have faith in you; we can do this. If anyone's going to take us to that ribbon, it'll be you and Munchlax."

Those moments played in his head as he continued to fight, trying so very hard to break free for his sake, and for hers.

"Combusken!" she cried from behind him.

Something clicked when she'd called out to him. Something deep inside Combusken ignited. He felt a fire heating up in his core, and a steady energy begin to flood his body like a rush of adrenaline. Outward, he began to glow a strange blue, and suddenly, his legs began to shake.

No one in the arena knew what was happening. May looked on in a strange mix of excitement and concern when the rock surrounded Combusken began to glow as well.

"What's going on?" Max demanded.

"I–I think some sort of fighting instinct has been triggered…" Brock pondered.

That had to have been correct. This definitely wasn't an evolution; Drew could plainly see that. But something else was going on. Something powerful. And it stemmed from the connection May shared with her Combusken. They were stronger united, and it had never been more evident.

"If there's ever a moment where humans and Pokémon are truly one, this is that moment," Drew breathed, looking on in utter elation and anticipation to see what was about to happen.

This was why he loved coordinating; it brought out the very best of people and Pokémon working together.

"For sure!" Ash agreed with Drew, understanding completely having experienced similar feelings in countless battles of his own.

Combusken ripped the sand tomb apart, soaring high into the air with his legs glowing. May looked on in amazement as Lillian narrated to the crowd what she was seeing. Whatever it was, it was breathtaking.

"What's that?" she asked herself as her Pokémon soared through the air.

She observed him closely as he went higher and higher before finally landing back down in front of her, still maintaining that eerie glow. Combusken looked back at her and nodded, signaling he was ready to continue.

"I know! That was a mega kick!" her face morphed into a huge smile.

The power faded away and Combusken returned to normal. May admired her Pokémon and how utterly incredible he was.

"Time for the 30 second warning," Lillian reminded everyone in the stadium that the battle was still going. "We're getting down to the wire."

May's eyes darted up to the scoreboard, and she realized with horror that with so little time left, she was still trailing Brianna. If she was going to come back, this was the time to do so. But with a great new move at her disposal, she felt refreshed and ready to go.

Combusken and May shared one last look; they could do this.

"Keep it strong!" Brianna encouraged. "Dragon's breath, now!"

May didn't seem to have enough time to call for a defense, and the attack hit Combusken head on. May's points dropped again, but there was still hope.

"Hurry, you're running out of time!" Ash pleaded.

"C'mon, May, speed up!" Max added.

May had done a lot of things throughout this contest, but what stood out to Drew the most was just how easily she was able to showcase the bond she held between her and her Pokémon. He focused on her, and really examined May's stance and tried to gauge how she was during these last few vital seconds.

She was totally focused, totally in the zone and totally ready to fight this through until the end. She didn't let her disadvantage deter her.

"Combusken, sky uppercut!" she called out.

Brianna, once again was quicker, calling for a dodge and trying to lock May down with one final sand tomb. Drew simultaneously fell back into his seat. That sand tomb wasn't going to stop May, and Brianna's unknowing mistake was about to cost her the match.

A tornado of sand formed on the ground and raced upwards towards Combusken, still soaring through the air after his failed sky uppercut. The vortex swallowed Combusken, and no one could see him.

"Oh no!" Max squealed.

"This could be bad," Brock said.

Drew just waited, and sure enough, May followed up with a final blow.

"Mega kick, now!" she screamed.

A bright light exploded from the raging sand storm, and a glowing Combusken blasted through the tornado, smashing his legs into Vibrava and slamming them both down onto the stage so hard, stray sand was scattered and clouded them from everyone's view. The whole audience fidgeted in their seats, trying to see what happened.

Combusken leapt out of the cloud of sand and dust, standing proudly. When the sand cleared, Vibrava lay fainted on the ground. Combusken had the knockout and May had the victory.

May grabbed onto her smiling fire type and embraced him sweetly.

"That was the best mega kick I've ever seen," she practically cried tears of elation. "Combusken, you're the absolute best."

"That was a close one," Ash sighed in relief.

"Yeah, good thing Combusken learned to use mega kick," Brock agreed.

"And after what happened, I don't think Combusken will ever be the same," Max threw in.

Brock looked down a Drew, expecting some kind of comment as May walked to the center stage to shake Brianna's hand and to be presented with her third ribbon of the season. He saw Drew sitting there, smiling down at May with pride and so much more; he knew what Drew was feeling.

It was a feeling he was all too familiar with, himself.

* * *

"May texted me saying that we can meet up with her and Brianna down at the beach," Max told the three boys as they made their way out of the arena.

Exiting the building, they were met with the warm glow of the sun, as it was half way through its descent on the edge of the horizon.

Brock pointed out where the two girls were standing when he spotted them, and Drew and the others made their way to the shoreline to meet up with them.

"Hey, you guys!" Max called out when they were close enough.

"I had a feeling we'd find you two out here," Brock greeted.

The two girls turned to see the boys approaching, and Drew noticed Brianna shrunk back behind May at the sight of him. Drew shook his head slightly. She may have lost, but she had nothing to be ashamed of.

"You two sure know how to have a great battle," Ash complimented the coordinators.

"That was a great win, too, May," her brother told her sweetly.

"That makes three ribbons now, doesn't it?" Brock inquired.

"Mhm," May confirmed, then turned her attention to Drew. "Hey Drew, I was wondering what you thought of my battle skills since you last saw me?"

He was happy for her, and he was glad to see her confidence after her last defeat. She was back on track to get to the Grand Festival, and his heart picked up a little just thinking about competing with her there. She was his main rival, and watching her come back the way she had today only made him all the more excited to face off against her.

Not that he'd admit it.

"To tell the truth, I thought you got lucky with that mega kick," he taunted her slightly, trying to convey he was ready to take her on. "If I were you, I'd be really grateful."

Her face soured a bit, and she took his advice with a grain of salt. He smirked at her, and then looked past her to see her nervous friend and his biggest fan. She deserved some praise as well, so he stepped forward.

"Brianna; that's your name, right?" he clarified.

"Uh, yes sir!" she jumped a little at the acknowledgement.

"You were good," he smiled. "Very good. It's obvious that you've raised your Vibrava well. It's hard work making it all the way to Flygon, but you'll do it."

"Gee thanks!" she squealed out, unsure if Drew had actually just complimented her or if she was dreaming. "I'll work extra hard!"

What an incredible feeling it was to have her hero say such nice things about her! She couldn't even believe she'd ever get to that point. What a rush…she swooned over and fell into May's arms, her heart felt as though it was beating a million times a minute.

"Whoa, Brianna!" May yelped, catching her dazed friend and holding her upright.

"He sure knows how to make an impression," Max joked from behind.

Brock also muttered something from behind, but he ignored them, and laughed to himself; if only he could have that effect on May.

Speaking of, he brought his eyes back up to meet hers, and she seemed a little surprised to see him staring at her so intensely. But he wanted her to know that all jokes aside, he was impressed, because how could he not be? And he was keeping up with her, because he cared. And he wanted her to know he was looking forward to the next time they would meet.

"Hey, May," he spoke softly now. "Just two more ribbons."

Though the sky made the light around them was golden orange and red, Drew didn't miss the blush that crept up on her face. Was it because she was nervous that he was watching her? What was she thinking?

She turned her head away, seemingly embarrassed.

"Drew, just curious…how many do you have?" she asked tenderly, obviously afraid of the answer.

She didn't need that. She was fine on the track she was on. Letting her know he had his five ribbons already was something he would have jumped at gloating about in the past, but things were different now. He respected her more, and acknowledged that she was closer to his level now. She'd grown so much, but was still fighting insecurities, and that was something he'd never exploit with her again.

"Who counts?" he laughed a little, surprising her. "In your case I figured you just might need someone to remind you."

His PokéNav buzzed in his back pocket, indicating he was late in picking up his own Pokémon from the clubhouse.

He wanted to stay and talk to her more about the contest, but he had an obligation to his own Pokémon. And he knew they'd meet again soon. Even if the next time he saw he would be at the Grand Festival, it was still only three months away. He'd be so focused on his training and preparing, he knew it would fly by.

He gave them a small wave and strolled down the beach, blushing the same shade of red that May was blushing as well.

* * *

Things died down on Chrysanthemum Island the day after the contest.

Drew still had reservations for two days there, and he noticed a lot of people leaving in the morning after the fact. He figured the place would see more crowds come next week when the next Chrysanthemum contest would be held. They had a great cycle of tourists coming and going.

He dropped his partners back off for their last day of play at the daycare, and Roselia once again chose to stick with him instead. They headed down to the significantly less crowded beach and spent a few hours down there. Drew laid out on a towel and read little of his Pokéblock guide, and Roselia played in the sand and even ventured to the water a few times. It was a nice day, and the hours ticked by as their short vacation was coming to a close.

Chrysanthemum Island was a beautiful place, and Drew mentioned to his Pokémon when he went to pick them up that they would have to come back some time. That earned him a chorus of cheers from his friends, and even though he was starting to get the itch to get back to training (especially after seeing how good May was getting), he would miss it there when they left.

The manager at the front desk stopped him when he strolled through the lobby towards the elevators to go to his room.

"Mr. Hayden, there's a note here for you," the woman informed him.

Drew walked over and took the neatly folded card, slightly confused but thanked the night clerk and bid her a goodnight, waiting until he got into his room before opening it.

Once he and his Pokémon were settled in, he carefully unfolded the small card and instantly recognized the handwriting; it was the same as the card May had asked him about.

 _Dear Mr. Drew,  
I was hoping I could talk to you again before you left the Chrysanthemum Island. If you want to, of course! It's super okay if you don't! I just wanted to ask you something before you left, and I never got the chance to after the contest. I'll be at the park near the Slowbro Roast Coffee House on Main Street tomorrow around noon if you can make it. If not, it's okay! And good luck in the Grand Festival, not that you need luck because you're amazing.  
Brianna_

Drew read the note a few times, wondering just what Brianna could possibly want to ask him about.

* * *

At noon on the dot, Drew walked through the gates of the small community park, looking for his nervous fan.

It was a small little park, maybe only about three city lots big, but it was a well kept up green space. A decent sized water fountain marked the center of the park, and a small playground for children and for Pokémon stood a few yards away. Benches were scattered all throughout the space, and Drew noticed the chestnut-haired girl sitting on one of the benches, her two Pokémon in front of her.

She was feeding them some Pokéblock when he walked up to them, one hand in his pocket.

"Brianna, hey," he spoke easily.

Brianna almost jumped when she looked up and saw him, like she was seeing a ghost. Her nerves got the better of her, and she suddenly looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. Did she regret calling this meeting with him?

"Mr. Drew, hi!" she blurted out nervously. "Wow, um, thanks for coming! I know you're probably super busy and don't have time to talk to someone like me and I really appreciate you coming and–"

"Whoa there, take it easy," Drew sat down on the bench next to her. "You don't have to call me Mr. Drew, you know. Just Drew is fine."

"Really?" she asked in disbelief. "Are you sure? I mean I don't mind and you're one of the best coordinators ever and–"

"Breathe," he said laughing a little at how Brianna nervously rambled on. "I watched you perform through that whole contest without batting an eye yesterday. You don't need to be nervous. Just breathe."

Brianna's eyes were hesitant, but when she saw the relaxed smile Drew was giving her, she did manage to calm down.

"Sorry," muttered, and took a deep breath to steel herself. "Sorry."

"It's no problem," Drew assured her. "Your Pokémon are looking good."

"Thank you," she said a little easier. "They slept really great after the contest. We all did."

"I'll bet," Drew nodded. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Oh, uh, it's probably not important, actually," Brianna hesitated.

Drew tilted his head and looked back at her. Brianna kept her gaze on the ground and clasped her hands together on her lap.

"I mean it has to be if you wanted me to come meet you here, right?" Drew questioned, not understanding her sudden hesitation.

"It's stupid, really," Brianna admitted to herself. "I just was curious, but it's not important."

"You can tell me," Drew affirmed her. "If it's important enough to bother you, then it is important and you should talk about it."

"You really think so?" Brianna asked, looked at him through the corners of her eyes.

"Yeah, definitely, so go ahead," Drew encouraged.

He didn't know what was bothering her so much, but something was clearly eating away at this shy young girl and he felt bad for her. He wasn't one for discussing feelings, but she was a sweet kid and he'd feel bad if he just left her there. Especially knowing how much she looked up to him. What kind of a horrible role model would he be if he didn't try to help–

"Do you have feelings for May?" she blurted out in one quick breath.

Drew recoiled a little bit. He hadn't had a specific idea about what she would say, but that caught him off guard and he felt almost as if he'd been slapped in the face. Brianna didn't seem to notice his startled reaction as her eyes were still locked on the grass below her feet.

He quickly tried to compose himself.

"What do you mean?" he asked dumbly.

"I was just curious," Brianna clarified. "Back at the contest, we were talking about you backstage and…"

"You were?" he questioned again. "What did you–she–what did you guys say about me?"

Brianna's eyes shot up and she looked alarmed, like maybe Drew was getting the wrong impression.

"Oh, nothing bad or anything!" she explained quickly, and then quieted again. "It's just that when we were waiting back stage to see if we were through to the next round, May said some stuff and it got me thinking."

Drew remained silent. He was too stunned to speak, or he didn't know what to say. His curiosity was eating him, but he'd been told curiosity killed the Delcatty, and he remained guarded as well.

Though with this much sudden tension dropped on his shoulders, he felt like he might die either way.

Brianna took a few seconds to pause, and finally exhaled.

"When we were back stage, and we found out that we made it past the appeals, we were celebrating and dancing and having a lot of fun," Brianna said. "And when we kind of calmed down, and we got our battle assignments, May got really serious. She started saying things like she was talking to you; something like, 'watch closely Drew because you'll see a win you won't forget,' or something like that. I don't remember exactly, but that was what it sounded like.

"And when I asked her about it, she told me she was so excited to have the chance to show you she could be a winner. She really wanted to impress you, like, really badly. I don't think I've ever seen any trainer look so intense the way she did backstage. And then…"

She took another pause, and Drew was practically struggling to sit still. He was glad Brianna wasn't looking at him anymore, because he wasn't sure what his face looked like.

"I might have over stepped a boundary, because I asked her if she had feelings for you," Brianna admitted, sounding shameful.

Again, she paused. And it was the worst time to pause in the history of pauses. Drew felt like he was on fire, and he was about to explode.

 _What did she say, what did she say, WHAT DID SHE SAY…  
_  
"She said she didn't know," Brianna finally said. "She said she hadn't thought about it all that much."

Within milliseconds, Drew felt shattered. She'd never thought about it? Not even once? Did she really not think about him when they weren't together? He thought about her constantly, and the thought that maybe it was different for her was like being struck by a bolt of lightning and frozen in an iceberg at the same time.

Had he done something wrong, or was it simply that maybe she just wasn't interested. He hadn't exactly made any direct moves, but he hadn't exactly done nothing, either. He leaned back against the bench more, and looked up towards the sky. Why did his heart hurt so badly at this? Just how much did he care for this girl?

"I challenged her on it," Brianna surprised him by continuing. "I told her that I think she has feelings for you, and she told me you're just a rival. But I could tell she was lying; her face was so red. She stopped looking at me in the eyes, and she was playing with her hands and stuff. I know she was really nervous, because that's what I do when I get really nervous…

"Then some other coordinator came and tried to give us advice about love or whatever; I wasn't paying attention, and I know that's rude, but I was just super surprised is all. I didn't get to ask her about it again, though, because she had to go battle and it never came up again after that, you know?"

Drew felt his heart doing uncomfortable flips in his chest. He'd made peace with the fact that he had feelings for May a lot time ago. Everything had changed for him after the Mirage Island incidents, and he'd spent a lot of months trying to understand if she gave any indications of the same thing.

"I've been thinking about it a lot these last two days, actually," Brianna spoke again. "I'm young and I know I don't know a lot about love, but I think May doesn't realize she has feelings for you. Seems kind of strange if a rival likes another rival, don't you think?

"May and her friends left town yesterday. They came to my house and told me goodbye on their way to the port to catch a ferry back to the mainland. May was so sweet; she hugged me and told me to keep coordinating, and that she would keep in touch. I wanted to ask her more about you, but they didn't have time to stick around because they were going to miss their boat.

"So, I kinda figured that, maybe if you were still here in town, you could explain it to me, from your side of view?"

"Gotcha…" Drew said, a little dazed after all the information he was given and all of the feelings surging through his chest.

The two coordinators sat there in silence for a few minutes, neither of them really knowing what to say. Drew wasn't exactly comfortable with admitting his feelings for his rival out loud. Especially to a young shy coordinator who almost worshiped him; he hadn't even talked to Solidad about it, and she was his best friend for Arceus' sake.

Drew just sat in silence, watching the clouds roll by, trying to think of a way out of this now awkward situation. He was coming up short, though; a lot of help his coordinating experience was here, when he was always forced to think on his feet.

"Do you have feelings for May?" Brianna asked him again.

Drew blinked. It was the original question she'd asked him when they first started talking, and somehow, this short conversation that couldn't have lasted longer than 10 minutes seemed like it began an eternity ago.

"She's a good rival," Drew tried lamely.

Brianna looked at him, a little lost at his weak attempt at an answer.

"But do you _love_ her?" she tried again.

"…No." Drew tried again.

The space between them fell silent for a few extra moments before Brianna finally spoke again.

"Wow," she said. "You're just as bad a liar as May is."

Drew's head jerked down and looked at this young girl who was disarming him simply using words. He knew he had a horrified look on his face, but he couldn't do anything about it.

Brianna's eyes went wide when she saw his expression; how utterly defeated and defenseless and almost scared he looked. Maybe her word choice was poor? Had _love_ been too strong a word?

She realized she'd definitely crossed a line again. She followed Drew Hayden's career almost religiously, and as his self-proclaimed biggest fan, she knew that he hated doing interviews or talking about feelings or anything like that. He was born for coordinating and tried to stick to that lifestyle more than anything else. But she'd opened a floodgate, and there was nothing she could do except go with the current.

"I won't tell anyone, if it makes you feel any better," she weakly tried to assure him. "I think it's kind of obvious that you haven't really talked about this, and it might make you feel better if you tried."

Drew's head just rolled back and he let out a groan.


	20. Mulberry City

**Mulberry City–** In which the final contest of Kanto's season arrives; it's all or nothing and the stakes have never been higher.

 **Author's notes:  
** \- I really blasted through the Kanto portion of this story, huh? Not that I've written and posted it quickly, but there's not as many Kanto chapters. We've still got a ways to go after we're done here in Mulberry, i.e. the Grand Festival, but let's close out the regular circuit and get to the post season, shall we?  
\- It's definitely time for a little Drew vs. Harley. I've avoided the subject for far too long.  
\- Based on the episodes, "New Plot, Old Lot" and "Going for Choke!" (Although, if you watch "New Plot, Old Lot," you'll notice I changed like…minor things. Nothing dialogue-wise, of course. First time I strayed from the actual episode, but it's not big and it's in the name of plot development.)  
\- Happy 2019. I hope you all have the most wonderful New Year.  
\- Guys, I know it sometimes takes me a long time to update, but I promise you, I am going to finish this story.

* * *

As per his typical tradition, Drew was on his way to see the last Pokémon contest of the season, which this season, was in Mulberry City. He and Solidad had planned to meet up for the contest a few weeks ago, seeing as they had barely gotten the chance to connect lately. They'd been so focused on their training the previous few months, and things were basically silent between them, one not wanting to disturb the other and vice versa.

And there they were, with just under one month to go before the Kanto Grand Festival would begin. It was hard for Drew to believe how quickly the time went by. The Kanto season had felt so short compared to the last one.

Through the rapidly-passing months, Drew had noticed a lot of differences in preparing for this Grand Festival as opposed to how he trained for Hoenn's.

First and foremost, he recalled how different had been training Vibrava than it was working with Absol. Absol knew attacks Drew had never previously used in contests, and at first, it proved to be quite a curve for him trying to figure out how to incorporate razor winds and water pulses together in beautiful combinations. But learning move sets wasn't the only curveball Drew was thrown while working with his dark type; Absol had a completely different personality to him. It wasn't that he wasn't getting along with his new partners than much less the time it was taking him to adjust. Gradual improvement felt slow, and Drew wondered if Absol would be truly ready for the ultimate contest.

He bit back the feelings and fought with himself over it. Absol was working harder than anyone else on his team, because he was new to all of this and fiercely trying to prove himself. After watching contests for months on the sidelines, Absol grew to share in the dream of competing and winning.

But that was just one of the struggles.

There was also the feeling of more pressure riding on this Grand Festival. More pressure than he'd ever felt for any contest, ever.

In Hoenn, he worried about May and Robert. No one else stuck out to him more than they had, and he spent the most time working on ways to best them. May's skills hadn't worried him as much as the strain of trying to cope with his growing feelings for the girl. He knew it wouldn't be an easy win by any means, but he knew he _would_ win the match against her. Robert was a whole different entity. He defeated May in the quarterfinals with a few bumps along the way, but sure enough, he fell to Robert in the actual finale.

Robert was gone, having not competed in Kanto, and while Drew would have loved having the chance to make up for his losses against the Top Coordinator, it helped knowing there was one less threat. He had May, Harley, Solidad and scores of others he'd have to be wary of. The first three were bad enough, especially Solidad, who had a speedy run to her five ribbons, and then over seven full months of practice since. May and Harley were also performing at top level, with May improving far more rapidly than any other coordinator he'd ever seen. She'd come so far since her first appearance in Hoenn.

This was definitely going to be harder than the last Grand Festival.

He'd been hard at work for months, too, but still, so had everyone else. And they were only getting better and better. It would be a struggle no doubt.

One of Drew's favorite ways to prepare for the Grand Festival had always been seeing the coordinators whose last chance it was for entry compete in the last contest of the season. The last contests always brought out both the absolute best in coordinators, as well as the absolute most desperation.

Typically, final contests were a blood bath, and only the best coordinators dared enter them.

He knew May was one of those coordinators.

She'd gone through Kanto and had done extraordinarily well, losing only once in her second competing season. A remarkable achievement, no less; he'd lost several times during his second run. May was a natural for contests, and acknowledging that made him feel some guilt as to judging her so harshly in her first go almost two years ago in Slateport.

But seeing as this was the final contest on the season, May only had earned four ribbons. She would have to trump everyone in Mulberry to get her shot at the Top Coordinator title.

Why did she do this? She'd waited until the very last contest last season to gun for her fifth ribbon as well. Why did she love taking risks so damn much? It was a real strain on his anxiety, which he had never known he had until he met her, too.

Arceus, that girl had turned his world so upside down…

Drew knew with 100 percent certainty he'd see May in Mulberry.

The real concern was trying to keep Solidad away from her as well, especially since Solidad had made it so blatantly clear that she was determined to meet May.

* * *

For a day that had started out with such promise (the best cup of coffee he'd encountered in Kanto, a near flawless practice run with Absol, clear skies for flying, etc.), things turned pretty sour pretty quickly.

It wasn't long after he'd landed that Drew returned Flygon to his Pokéball, giving him a nice rest after a semi-long flight. Drew could walk a few blocks to his hotel, and a few extra to drop off his team at a Pokémon Center to get a few check-ups after some intense days of practicing for battles. The nice thing about having a team of four meant they could practice a double battle, and Drew facing off against himself gave him some creative opportunities.

The first bad thing to happen during his day was the text from Solidad he'd received just before taking off for Mulberry City. He'd been excited to see her and catch up, because it had been so long since they'd had the chance to just talk. With both of them giving 100 percent of their focus on their practice sessions, they hadn't had a real conversation since before Drew met Absol, and that had been months ago. He was dying to know how she was, and he was extremely eager to see her in Mulberry; they'd agreed to attend the last contest together months in advance.

Solidad apologized multiple times in the paragraph she'd sent him, saying she had stayed out too late practicing and had caught a cold. She wasn't up for getting him sick, too, and said she was staying home. Drew's disappointment stuck with him for the whole flight, but he tried not to let it get to him. She followed up with a text saying she'd been watching from bed, that they could text-commentate the whole contest if he wanted, and that she would absolutely see him at the Grand Festival in a few short weeks, which would fly by.

Once he landed, he shot her an, "It's okay, feel better, see you soon," message. But still, he was missing his best friend, and her extra ticket for the contest in his back pocket would go to waste.

The city was decked out in posters and commercial graphics advertising the contest. He couldn't find a building without some kind of advertising for it. And why not go all out? It was sure to draw loud crowds and attract lots of business to local vendors.

Drew strolled into the lobby of the hotel he'd reserved and stopped dead in the doorway, feeling all the blood practically drain out of his face.

There, standing at the front desk and causing a scene was none other than Harley.

The urge to turn and walk out the door was so strong, Drew thought he might bolt. But he didn't want to make things any more dramatic, and he wanted to understand what was happening. So he waited in the background and watched the scene play out.

"I cannot believe that this hotel expects me to go through this whole weekend with just ONE bottle of extra moisturizing shampoo!" Harley whined to the poor desk attendant, who looked more embarrassed than anything else. "And look how small it is! You see these luscious locks, hun? This is a three-bottle-a-night head of hair, so I demand that you send more up to my room right away! At least a dozen of them!"

The purple-haired coordinator spun around and stuck his nose straight up with his eyes closed. If it wasn't physically impossible for him, Drew felt as though his eyes would have rolled right out of the back of his head. Harley was such a mess.

"I'm so sorry, Mr…" she tried.

Harley wheeled back around faster than should have been humanly possibly – if Harley was actually human, though – and stared down the front desk representative.

"As a well-known coordinator, with FIVE Kanto ribbons, you should know my name," Harley challenged, but was met with silence, and muttered "Harley" in utter disbelief that someone couldn't instantly recognize him.

So Harley did have his five ribbons. Drew pondered for a bit why he would even be here for the last contest if he didn't need to be. The (incredibly-hard-for-Drew-to-admit) fact was, with or without cheating, Harley was a good coordinator. Drew had watched him perform throughout the season on live streams, and once in person. Harley had even bested his rival once that season, overtaking her in Wisteria Town. He was a force to be reckoned with, but why was he here?

The receptionist smiled sweetly, but awkwardly.

"We apologize for the inconvenience, Mr. Harley, but please be assured we'll have someone send up extra services to your room at once."

"Humph," Harley cracked one eye open down at her. "It's about time."

Harley then spun on his heel to walk away, and Drew froze, realizing his mistake. He was right out in the open. Should he run for it? Harley's eyes were still somewhat closed. Maybe he would ignore him? Maybe Drew should-

Harley's eyes opened.

 _Oh fuck_.

A huge, sly smile crept over Harley's face upon seeing Drew, and Drew shivered internally. Arceus, this guy was such a creep.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite grass-headed pipsqueak," Harley whistled. "What are ya doing here, boy toy?"

"Checking in to my hotel…" Drew said hesitantly.

Harley's eyes lit up, and something almost dangerous flashed in them. Drew held his ground, though his instincts told him to recoil.

"Oh?" Harley smiled. "Going for your fifth ribbon here?"

"No," Drew fought back. "I earned my fifth ribbon months ago, just like you did a few weeks ago. If you were really focused on coordinating, you would have known that."

"As if I care whether or not you got into the Grand Festival, twerp, because I'll be the one winning it all," Harley yawned, with one eye cracked open. "FYI, there is one little gingerbread cookie that needs to get her fifth ribbon."

Drew kept his face even. He had known May was going to be here competing, because she needed her final ribbon. Drew had gone merely to observe, as he always did every last contest of the season. He wasn't there specifically to watch her. No, of course not… But she would be there, and he had anticipated that he would see her… But definitely not the only reason. No way.

Why was his heart beating so damn violently?

Seconds went by, and much to Drew's horror, he realized no verbal response had left his mouth. Harley's eyes gleamed; that was the reaction from Drew he had wanted.

"I saw her and her brood of boy toys earlier," Harley sang. "Your girlfriend is pretty nervous about this contest, probably as she should be."

"May is not my girlfriend," Drew suddenly snapped.

Drew had made the mistake of not correcting Harley one too many times when Harley threw the term around him. May as his _girlfriend_? He knew he liked her, but he'd never actually pictured them in some kind of…relationship.

What exactly did relationships entail, anyway? Were there set rules? Did you have to spend certain amounts of time with your partner? What were you required to do for them to hold the title of "significant other?" It was a thought process Drew didn't want to have, particularly not in those moments, anyway.

Drew had only ever cared about coordinating. It was his passion in life and the only thing he thought mattered to be was becoming a champion. Then May entered the picture.

"HA, your face is priceless," Harley cracked up, holding his stomach as laughter rocked his system and Drew twitched before gaining his glare back. "You're such a dweeb, I swear."

Harley continued to cackle, and it irked Drew. Something about this older coordinator's superiority complex had always bothered him, but now more so than ever. Drew shrugged, rolling his eyes and stuffing his hands in his pockets, in an attempt to seem casual. He wanted to convey that he didn't care about Harley's persistence.

"At least I don't need to cheat and manipulate people to win against my rivals," Drew spit out.

"Same," Harley drawled. "If you've really been watching me all season, then you know I won my five gorgeous ribbons because my Pokémon are simply the best. I even beat little Maysy, but I'm sure you already know that."

Drew's eye twitched, and Harley didn't miss it. It was what he'd been counting on.

"But it's not about me right now," Harley smiled. "It's about May. Our little superstar needs to win tomorrow, or she's done for."

"She'll win," Drew replied confidently. "With you not trying to cheat her, she's got this."

But then the mirth in Harley's gaze faded, and a darker smile burned on his features. Drew gulped a little and instinctively stepped back, his fingers reaching for one of his Pokéballs in his picket…

"Listen, sweetie," Harley cooed, a sickeningly sweet tone that betrayed his expression. "Stay outta my way, you hear me? I'm winning this season, not you. Not your girlfriend. And nobody's gonna stop me, so if you wanna avoid getting hurt, I'd suggest you know who's really better."

Drew glared right up at his creepy opponent. There was definitely something going on here. Harley wasn't in the contest, which was a relief for Drew regarding May's presence there. She deserved a fair shot at her last ribbon, and Drew knew she could absolutely win it, especially if Harley was't there trying to cheat her of it.

Part of Drew's brain wished he could believe Harley was there simply to observe the contest, but the way he was smiling said otherwise. Harley had something planned, and Drew knew it. Drew just hoped he could figure it out before it was too late.

"Well, unlike _some of us_ , this coordinator cares about his appearance and is going to enjoy some spa time," Harley placed a hand on his hip and turned his attention to his fingernails. "Consider yourself warned, grasshead."

Harley seemed satisfied with himself, and blew Drew a kiss (which broke Drew's composure and caused his face to twist up in disgust) before turning around to walk away.

Drew was seething, and he knew it was showing on his face.

* * *

The contest was sold out. Drew was glad he'd reserved two tickets weeks prior to the day.

It was the type of atmosphere that could make a person claustrophobic. Something told Drew the stadium sold more tickets than they had seats. There were absolutely no open seats, but it seemed like people were still pouring into the stands. Drew was silently thankful that Solidad didn't show up, leaving the seat next to him open, and giving him a little bit of breathing room.

About 15 minutes before the contest began, Drew had been texting Solidad how suffocating the environment was, when an overly cheery voice from an all too familiar voice stood out from the casual conversations appeared.

"S'cuse me, pardon me hun, coming through!"

Drew immediately ducked down in his seat, turning his back to the stairs and sticking his PokéNav in his face to hide himself.

After their unpleasant encounter the day before, Drew definitely did not feel like dealing with Harley.

Either the older coordinator didn't see him in his admittedly pathetic attempt to hide in plain sight, or he ignored him (highly unlikely, though), Harley kept going past Drew's isle until he made it to his own. Drew watched as Harley took a seat, just one isle separating the two of them.

A minute of stillness passed with Drew watching the back of Harley's head. No incidents had occurred. Maybe he really hadn't seen Drew as he walked past?

Just as Drew was breathing a sigh of relief, Harley turned and looked back. Their eyes connected, and Drew felt a chill shoot down his spine. Harley simply winked at his with dark eyes, and turned his attention back to the front.

Drew felt like he was going to be sick.

* * *

The judges appeared on stage. The main lights dimmed and the spotlights lit up. Everyone's attention fell to the stage.

The opening to the contest was underway.

"WOW, what a crowd!" Lillian shouted. "I want to welcome you all to the Mulberry City Pokémon contest! Things are going to heat up around here pretty darn quickly, so let's start with a big round of applause…for yourselves!"

The crowd erupted on command. Even Harley was clapping and blowing kisses out to everyone, as if they were clapping for him. Drew rolled his eyes.

"You all know we're just one contest away from the Grand Festival, and that means for those coordinators with only four ribbons, this moment is do or die! So, sense we're all pumped up, let's get this show on the road!"

Lillian went on with the introduction of the judges, but Drew tuned it out. His eyes kept flickering back from the action on stage to the back of Harley's head. Something about Harley's presence forced Drew to feel anxiety. Harley didn't seem like he was the type of coordinator who just observed contests. So why was he here? Was it really because of May? Drew dreaded the possibilities.

"…And here's what our contestants are competing for: the Mulberry ribbon!"

Drew's eyes were briefly drawn to the Mulberry ribbon being displayed on the big screen above the stage. He had one of his own tucked inside his ribbon case, granting him permission to enter the Grand Festival.

Now, he hoped May would earn one so she could join him on the next stage as well.

* * *

Backstage, May was looking at the same ribbon he was, dreaming about the same things as he was. She didn't know Drew was there watching, but she was plagued with nerves for that ribbon. She wanted to earn it, because she needed to be in the Grand Festival competing against him.

May's mind flashed back to the last time she'd seen Drew, just a few short weeks prior. He told her he'd see he at the Grand Festival, and something in his eyes told her he wanted to see her there just as much as she wanted to see him there.

She and her Pokémon had worked so hard to get to that point, and this was the last chance she had to go for it all.

She couldn't let her Pokémon down.

She couldn't let Drew down.

* * *

"Everyone strapped to their seats? So let's get busy!"

The appeals round, in the final contest of the season. The talent was basically unmatched by any other contest. It was his favorite thing to watch.

But Drew couldn't focus. He was too paranoid.

Fantastic hydro pumps, expertly executed smog attacks, masterful metronomes, he was missing the fabulous executions. The culminations of entire seasons of practice and work were happening before him. He could hear the cheers; Drew knew he was in the presence of great coordinators. But…he couldn't bring himself to keep his eyes on the performances.

And it was bothering him. A lot.

The paranoia he was experiencing from Harley's mere presence was excruciating. Drew's damn leg was bouncing. It drove Drew crazy when people did that, and now here he was, doing it himself at an alarming speed. What was wrong with him? It was just Harley for Arceus sakes!

Drew's eyes flickered back to the Clampearl on stage, glowing like a rainbow and aweing the crowd. It was a magnificent display, and Drew tried to stay focused long enough to see how the judges were reacting…but he found his eyes fell on the back of Harley's once again.

Drew let out a frustrated groan, and fell back into his seat. He rubbed his eyes a bit, and tried shaking his head. It didn't dispel the anger.

The whole show, Harley had sat completely still in his seat. Drew watched as he lazily clapped for a few coordinators, and cleaned his nails for most of others. He definitely wasn't the type to watch other people's contests.

What was he up to? Whatever Harley's plan was, it had something to do with his bitter feud with May. Harley's disdain for her clearly went past contests. Drew knew he shouldn't have cared this much, but he couldn't help it. His head was way past him now. Drew knew that this insanity and desperation were now fueled by his heart.

Drew was going crazy trying to figure it out. He'd never been this emotionally invested in anything else other than contests. How terrifying, to know that he was so torn up about all of this, simply because he wanted May to succeed.

After almost an hour of watching Harley and watching appeals, suddenly the momentum shifted. Harley suddenly shot up in his chair, his gaze fixated on the stage. Drew's eyes followed, expecting to see May finally enter.

Instead, it was that Jessie girl from Team Rocket, in her typical contest disguise and going under the name, 'jessebella'. She was doing some sort of greeting, but Drew ignored it. He looked back and fourth between the enemy of his enemy and…the enemy of his enemy, but also his enemies? It didn't matter. What did matter was that Harley had taken great interest in her appearance on the stage, and that was disarming.

Then suddenly, it all made sense.

When Jessie summoned a Cacturne, Harley nearly exploded in cheers. There was absolutely no doubt that it was Harley's own Pokémon. Which was confusing.

Was that his master plan? To have a common criminal use his Pokémon to be better than May in this contest? From what little of the appeal round Drew had managed to see (when he wasn't glaring daggers into Harley's head), he'd been able to determine very quickly that May was definitely better than most of the people here. She could take the appeals round easily. And Drew knew that both he and Harley had seen Jessie try to compete before. She'd never won a contest.

Jessie and Harley's Pokémon wouldn't have enough of a connection to win this one. Drew partially relaxed back into his seat.

Jessie ordered for a needle arm, followed by tossing vegetables over her head for Cacturne to strike. Cacturne obliged, and effortlessly sliced all of the pieces to fall in the shape of a small structure on Jessie's waiting plate. Cacturne finished it all up in a daunting pose.

It was a little corny to him, but then again, Drew had always considered using props in appeals corny. Well, most of the time…

"Wow!" Lillian shouted. "A combination of needle arm and cut! A new twist! This unexpected move has the crowd going wild!"

And it was true; a lot of people were screaming for them. In fact, the whole stadium, save for Drew, was applauding. Harley was screaming his head off like a maniac, naturally.

"Great, just like the old man!" he shouted.

With applause and cheering like this, as well as pleasant smiles on the judges' faces, Drew realized with a shutter.

"Those two will be tough to beat," Drew admitted with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest.

And then, it got worse. The appeal wasn't over. Jessie kept going.

"Now, Cacturne, cotton spore!" she stunned everyone by commanding.

With a wave of his arms, Cacturne summoned numerous cotton balls to fly around the stage. The soft spores wafted through the air slowly, like clouds slowly drifting through the sky. Drew watched curiously, trying his hardest to ignore the shouts of the enamored Harley in the seats below him.

With a burst of accurate bullet seeds, Cacturne shot every cotton spore that floated through the air. Each spore made some strange popping noise while they burst. The sparkling fragments of the shatters seeds and spores showered the whole stadium, and Drew had never seen or heard something like this before. The novelty of the first half of the act was worn off. Suddenly, Jessie seems like a real threat.

Harley was screaming his approval for his Pokémon until she left the stage. Then he rapidly began conversing with those around him.

"How great was that?"

"That Cacturne sure was incredible, huh?"

"Can you believe that?"

Drew couldn't believe Harley. The thing was, he was cheating, without actually cheating. Coordinators could legally use Pokémon that weren't their own in contests.

But that rule didn't cover the moral aspect of it. The fact was, Jessie went out and claimed that she had owned that Cacturne. She didn't deny it when the judges commented on how well she had raised it.

Legally, Harley was safe. Morally, who knew?

Finally, Harley turned back up to face Drew, as if he knew had been thinking about him. Harley gave him yet another sly smile, and Drew recognized immediately that something in Harley's expression was still way too over confident.

Harley wasn't done.

Drew gulped.

The crowd, meanwhile, kept cheering. The last contests of the season were always a madhouse…

Jessie finally left the stage after what felt like an eternity. Drew and Harley's gazes remained locked on each other, neither side showing any signs of backing down.

"And now, it's time for our next contestant!" Lillian commanded the attention of the audience. "So bring her on!"

Harley's attention snapped forwards, completely forgetting Drew. Drew blinked; only one person in this contest could have made him lose interest like that.

Dare he hope?

Yes, yes he should.

There, center stage, looking powerful and confident and determined and beautiful and ready to go was his rival. The look of sheer and utter anticipation to begin was magnified on the big screen, and Drew couldn't help but grin at her. He was excited to see what she would do, sure. But to just see her in general…it made his chest warm.

May stood there at ease, waiting for the signal to begin and soaking up the cheers of the crowd. They all finally sat back down into their seats after the last performance. Drew's eyes briefly scanned the crowd, trying to see her friends and brother. Too many people, though, so he gave up quickly.

Out of the corner of his eye, Drew saw Harley briefly look up towards the rafters, and it looked like he said something. Drew raised an eyebrow, and had to pry his eyes off Harley to focus on May.

Lillian gave her a slight smile of encouragement and a nod, telling her it was time to begin. May nodded back, and raised a Pokéball; who would she appeal with? Drew couldn't wait to find out.

"Combusken," May started, working herself into an elegant spin. "It's time to take the st-!"

She fell. Hard. May slipped and fell to the ground, looking a bit shaken up and her face was scrunched in a slight expression of pain. The whole stadium gasped. Drew winced, and watched with both curiosity and worry. May hadn't fallen since her first appearance in the contest circuit back in Hoenn over a year ago.

Harley laughed; Drew didn't miss that. Something was strange.

May was slow to get up, holding her lower back to support herself. The big screen showcased her trying to blink back the frustration. Lillian ran to her side, inspecting the young girl.

May and Lillian exchanged some quick words, and May assured her that she was okay to perform. Lillian looked concerned, but nodded. Drew knew May was in some discomfort, but she wasn't about to let her last chance at the Grand Festival slip away.

Harley fidgeted again in his seat, and again, Drew caught the movement.

"Combusken, one more time, take the stage!" May tried again, this time successful in her entrance.

Her Combusken, looking more ready then ever, all but exploded out of his Pokéball, leaping into the air with his powerful legs.

Drew was glad to see Combusken. It was always obvious that May and all of her Pokémon shared great bonds, but something about her and Combusken just seemed to work. She was comfortable with him, and he loved her. It was pretty obvious Combusken must have been May's first partner.

"Use mega kick!" May ordered, ready to start her appeal.

Up in the air, Combusken began to glow and braced itself for a mega kick, and the audience leaned forward in anticipation. As Combusken began to plummet downwards, suddenly his powered up leg shot above him, and he did an awkward flip landing on his back.

May watched in horror, and rushed to her Pokémon's side. Lillian was in the process of asking May if her Pokémon was all right when May fell forwards, nearly landing flat on her face. Both May and her Pokémon were down on the ground, both shaken up and confused. Both in pain. Combusken tried to stand, but fell again.

Drew gritted his teeth; something was absolutely and horribly wrong with this. Especially with the way Harley was snickering to himself as the rest of the audience was whispering concerns.

Drew's eyes caught the rapid motion of someone running, way down at the bottom row of seats. He could make out Ash's form, running behind his Pikachu urgently with a strange look on his face. Drew knew Ash could also figure out something was wrong, and maybe he knew.

For a moment, Drew thought about following him, but with his suspicions about Harley, he knew he'd be better off keeping an eye on him. Ash could handle whatever it was he was going to do.

May and her Combusken had finally found their footing, and both were looking at each other worriedly. But May tried to smile reassuringly at her Pokémon, and gave Combusken a thumbs up.

 _We got this, Combusken, don't worry_.

She grabbed the Frisbee from her side, and Combusken's eyes lit up. It was the routine he was familiar with, and he was ready when she was.

May lobbed the Frisbee into the air, calling for a sky uppercut attack. Combusken responded, and leapt into the air aiming directly for the plastic disk. There was absolutely no way he could miss. He was right on the money, claw raised and ready to hit. But Combusken's arm was jerked away at the last minute, and Combusken missed its absolute mark.

May, the judges and the audience watched in horror and disbelief. Drew pursed his lips and took a deep breath through his nose. This was hard to watch.

"There seems to be a problem!" Lillian voiced her concerns. "May's timing with Combusken is off."

Combusken landed on the ground, but slipped and fell yet again. May looked at Lillian, pleading, and the MC nodded, giving May a few seconds to approach her Pokémon slowly, in fear of falling herself. She kneeled beside her starter.

"Combusken, are you okay?" she whispered.

Combusken only looked to her with pleading eyes, apologizing silently and furiously. May nodded and smiled sadly.

"It's not your fault, Combusken, it's mine," May assured her Pokémon. "I think my timing is off…or something. I don't know. I'm so sorry if you're hurt."

Combusken instantly protested his trainer's response. May hugged her Pokémon softly.

Drew watched the sad scene before him, and watched Harley's body shake with mirth and silenced laughter. Drew burned inside. He was watching May suffer right before his eyes, her pain amplified to everyone in that stadium. Drew could tell by the look on her face that while she was trying to be strong for her Pokémon, she was well aware of the weight of this disastrous performance.

He didn't know how Harley was doing it, but he needed to do something about it.

"Let's just try to finish this up, okay?" May whispered. "And no matter what, I'm really proud of you."

Combusken nodded, scared to continue, but determined to not let these mistakes go on anymore. May stood back up and took a few steps away from her Pokémon. It was now or never, and everything was on the line.

The next few seconds would determine the fate of months of hard work. Of the struggles and victories of the season in Kanto. It was all resting on these next few, precious seconds. The final seconds of her appeal; her last chance to prove to everyone that she was worthy of the ribbon, and worthy of her chance to go for the ribbon cup.

Part of her mind wondered if Drew was watching, wherever he was. What was he thinking about her? He probably didn't consider her a rival anymore. He was probably embarrassed to know her. He would probably be glad if she didn't get into the Festival…

The thoughts broke something in her; to think that Drew was somewhere, and might be disregarding her, when all she craved was his respect. She was here to show her rival and the world that she and her Pokémon could be great. So far, she'd failed. Miserably.

She plastered her biggest smile she was capable of on her face, and nodded to Lillian and the judges. Drew watched her, and hoped for her with everything in him.

"Fire spin, let's go!" May boomed, her confidence faltering.

Almost everyone was watching Combusken as he charged up the attack. Harley was looking upwards. Drew was watching May's face.

Drew saw the smile she had fade slowly, into worry and anxiety. He hated to see her give up; it felt like it was physically hurting him.

Combusken finally released the fire he had built up. Brilliant flames ripped from his mouth as he spun, wrapping himself into a molten tornado of bright, explosive reds and oranges. And he didn't stop there; Combusken wove himself around and around, faster and faster and showing no signs of stopped.

Everyone in the stadium gaped at the amazing move; a sharp contrast from how May's performance had begun. Drew noticed some light returned to her eyes as she observed her own Pokémon's power on display. A small smile graced her lips, and he exhaled.

 _There you are, May_.

More noticeably, Harley flinched. Drew watched as he frantically looked back up again, muttering something into his hand in a panicked state.

Above the top of Combusken's vortex, a new flame twister started to spread. A smaller, skinny flame twisted it's way up over the main cylinder of the original tornado, and kept going. It wafted up higher and higher. Drew's eyes watched in amazement as it went all the way up to the ceiling. Was this part of her routine? How in the hell did May and Combusken manage to perfect _this_ level of mastery over fire?

The judges were suddenly speechless; all traces of disappointment left their faces/ Now there was only sheer awe at the fire spin's power.

This was _incredible_ …

…This was _impossible_.

May's face said it all; she had no idea what was happening. Drew's eyes flickered back and forth from May's shock, Harley's trembling/incoherent shouting and Combusken's fire.

Just as quickly as they'd appeared, the flames traveling up to the roof dissipated, and everyone refocused on the main twister below, still going bright and strong.

But Drew noticed, something had caught fire up in the rafters, and it was moving rapidly. He squinted his eyes and tried to make out what was happening. All he could make out were several figures, followed by a strong glow, and then a blast out of nowhere.

Drew blinked as his brain now processed a giant, gaping hole in the ceiling. Someone had been fiercely ejected, and Harley freaked out, standing up and debating whether or not to bolt or stay and watch the outcome. Drew quickly recognized Ash was at the top, looking back down and cheering on his friend to finish strong.

With…whatever thing was happening now apparently settled, Drew looked back to May. Just in time to see May, armed with another Frisbee. Her confidence seemingly restored, May launched the Frisbee with everything she had, calling fourth her powerful fire type.

Combusken launched out of his fire tornado, spinning rapidly fast and slashing at the Frisbee, dragging flames along him as he soared upwards. He hit his mark dead center, amazing all those who were watching him. The Frisbee was sent right back to May, who caught it on one finger and spun it, grinning.

Her entire performance was completely turned around. Harley was freaking out. Drew was smiling right back down at both of them.

"May's finally back to her old tricks," Drew sighed to himself.

"Let's finish this up with mega kick, now!" May screamed, letting everyone watching her she meant business; that she was better than her slow start; that she _deserved_ a place in the second round.

With all of herself – all of her mistakes, failures, victories, emotions, and heart – she tossed that Frisbee up in the air, watching it spin and believing in herself more than she ever had.

Combusken released its energy. He kicked that Frisbee right back at his trainer, who locked eyes with him and caught it without breaking contact. She burst into a huge, proud smile and Combusken flipped back over, landing on his feet, celebrating a strong finish.

The faith in the audience had been restored, and they gave all the love to May they'd given to the other performers before her.

May rushed to her Combusken, placing her hand on his shoulder and holding back the tears. After such a hard struggle, her starter had pulled it off, better than she could have ever imagined. She was surging with pride for Combusken, and she loved him so, so much.

 _Drew, wherever you are, I hope you saw that_.

 _May, you deserved all this applause and more_.

* * *

The happiness didn't last.

The judges' comments said it all; they still had their doubts. While they were impressed with the outcome, the shaky start was something they couldn't look past.

May bowed and smiled, but Drew didn't miss the way she looked dejected as she left the stage. He couldn't imagine how hard it was for her to walk off stage after all of that.

But he could imagine how satisfied Harley must have been.

As the next coordinator was called on stage to perform, Harley shot up out of his seat. He didn't waste time looking at Drew. Instead, he just rushed up the stairs, muttering something about 'I'm gonna kill those clowns,' or something like that under his breath.

Drew stood up, too, a sudden thought entering his mind. Maybe he should go see May.

She probably needed some moral support after that round, and maybe he could try to give her some reassurance. It was the least he could do; after all, it couldn't be easy going through that (it was hard enough to watch as it was). And Drew remember the last Grand Festival, when he lost in the heartbreaking finale, and May tried to comfort him. He owed her that support back, and he wanted to show her he genuinely wanted to see her move to the next round.

* * *

Mulberry's contest hall was familiar to him, and he had no problem finding his way back stage to the coordinator's waiting room.

The last coordinator of the round was going up to perform, but Drew didn't mind missing it. All he cared about in those moments was finding May, and trying to give her some encouragement.

As he turned the corner, the door to the waiting area were open, and Drew hadn't crossed the threshold before he recognized her signature bandana. May sat at a table on the far side of the room, her head in her hands. Disappointment was radiating off her person, and Drew's heart dropped out of his chest for her.

He wasn't good with this kind of thing, and he suddenly didn't know what to say or how to help. The reality of the situation dawned on him. May was actually in danger of not making it past the appeal round. Nothing he could say to her would change that.

"They're so lame!" Drew heard Max's voice from around the corner.

So May's group was coming for her. Maybe that was what she needed; at least they probably knew what to tell her.

"At least they're gone," Brock assured the boy. "Let's just go see May and let her know."

Drew panicked. He couldn't leave now, because they would see him and ask why he was there, and he wasn't up for that conversation. There wasn't enough time to escape the way he'd come in, so he dove into the room, closing the door behind him and slipping behind a locker keeping his head down hoping no one would bother him.

No one seemed to pay him any mind, all the coordinators in the room aside form May too focused on the TV screen awaiting the results of the appeal round. Drew sighed in relief, but then turned back to May. His rival seemed consumed by sadness, and he swore he could hear her say, "how will I make it to the second round?"

Drew tensed a bit. The sadness in her voice was so prominent, as was the hopelessness. Poor May…

The door burst open.

"Hey, May!"

Drew's eyes shot to her friends' entrance, and May's attention fell on them. She looked embarrassed to see them.

"I know, Ash," she sighed as they approached her. "I messed up today…"

"Wrong, you didn't mess up," Ash replied, and Drew raised an eyebrow. "It was all 'cause of Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket?" May looked dumbfounded.

Drew then noticed Jessie, across the room from May, look terrified. He rolled his eyes and kept listening, but his mind slowly pieced together what had happened.

Harley's Pokémon. The fire spin. Team Rocket. The rafters.

 _Oh_.

It all clicked.

Without hesitation, Drew bolted from the room.

* * *

The judges had gone backstage a few minutes ago to deliberate the top eight.

Drew all but jogged to find the office in which they sat. His footsteps were heavy and he moved with purpose; he felt like he had a lot riding on his shoulders here.

A stage director saw him briskly walk past him in the hall, and shouted to him when Drew failed to stop.

"Sir, uh, SIR?" he called from behind. "You can't be back here at this time! SIR!"

Drew continued to ignore him, and he heard the confused crewmember making some kind of plea call on a radio. Drew pushed on, and finally arrived at the door he was looking for. A large "DO NOT DISTURB" sign was mounted on the center, which he also ignored. Drew knocked on the door with a sense of urgency and stepped back.

Drew could hear the sounds of confusion muffled by the door. It slowly opened to reveal a confused looking Mr. Contesta.

"I don't mean to interrupt you guys, but I think you need to know something important before you make your final decisions on the appeals," Drew explained quickly.

Mr. Contesta's eyes slowly morphed from confusion as he recognized Drew and who he was. He still looked slightly lost, but he slowly stepped to the side to allow Drew to enter the office. Beyond the door, Drew could see the concerned faces of Mr. Sukizo and the local Nurse Joy looking over to him as well.

Just before Drew could enter, the same crewmember who had tried to stop him earlier ran up to the door, panting a little.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Contesta, sir!" he apologies furiously. "I tried to stop him from coming back here, and–"

"It's fine, Carl," Mr. Contesta assured him as Drew slipped into the room. "This young man is a talented coordinator we know and is a friend. He's apparently got something important to bring up, though, so thank you for doing your job, but in this case, it's fine. You can go."

"Oh, uh–yes sir," Carl nodded, and shuffled away as Contesta closed the door once more.

Mr. Contesta made it back to his chair and retook his place at the table, a slew of pictures and appeal notes written in three distinct styles were scattered all over the flat surface. Drew's eyes briefly locked on May's picture in the mix, and he turned his attention back up to the confused panelists.

"Well, Mr. Hayden, it is nice to see you again," Mr. Contesta properly greeted him. "What seems to have you so worked up now, young man?"

"I'm here to report some cheating that took place during the appeal round."

The three judges gasped, and Mr. Contesta pulled out a radio to make a quick call.

"Tell Lillian to go into protocol B and give us a few extra minutes back here," he ordered, and received a confirmation instantly after.

"Who would do such a thing in a contest?" Nurse Joy demanded, a little fired up at Drew's revelation.

"It's unremarkable, and troubling," Mr. Sukizo agreed.

"How much do you know about what happened?" Mr. Contesta asked.

Drew had figured it all out while he ran to the judges' room. He knew that both Harley and Team Rocket were clearly working together, but Harley hadn't actually personally done anything. Of course, it was Harley's Ariados, and Drew pieced together that it was also his Cacturne Jessie had gone through the first round with soon after, but if Harley didn't actually order those Pokémon to do any of it, it didn't matter and Harley was basically untouchable. As much as Drew would have loved to spite Harley, and get him banned from the Grand Festival, he knew there was nothing he could do seeing as Harley himself hadn't actually cheated, but got Team Rocket to do all the dirty work. Harley covered his tracks well, once again.

"One of the last coordinators of the round and her Combusken were being manipulated by an Ariados' spider webs hiding up in the rafters above the stage," Drew explained. "That's why she slipped so many times, and why her combinations weren't in sync the first half of the appeal."

"What?" Mr. Contesta gasped. "Are the perpetrators still up there? Do I need to call security?"

"I don't think you need to," Drew said. "I saw one of her friends catch on to the commotion as well, and he ran up there to confront the people responsible. Knowing that he's a pretty experienced trainer, and seeing him rush down to the seats after she got her performance back on track, I think he handled it. If you have security cameras up there, I'm sure you'll see the whole thing."

A laptop appeared on the table, and Drew rushed behind the three judges to watch the footage to actually see what happened for himself.

"So that's how Combusken's fire spin wove upwards the way it did," Nurse Joy mused. "It burned the webs that were coming down onto the stage."

"Well, at least that young man got rid of the trouble makers," Mr. Contesta said. "We'll have to find a way to thank him if we can, and to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention, Mr. Hayden. Cheating in contests is a serious offense and we don't take it lightly."

"I genuinely don't believe May would have messed up during the first half of her performance had those guys not been messing with her," Drew explained. "I'm not here to try to influence your decision in this. I think it's fair to ask if you scrap the shaky start she had, and really only judge the second half of her appeal. But if May didn't make it through, then she didn't make it through."

The last part left a bit of a bitter taste in his mouth, but he'd at least done all he could to at least help her stand on fair ground. In truth, Drew wanted nothing more than to tell them May deserved to be in first place, but this was something she needed to earn the right way. It wouldn't have been fair for him to try to convince the judges she had already earned the right. They had to see that for themselves. Had her chance at her final ribbon been taken from her because of cheating, it wouldn't have been right.

"Yes, of course," Mr. Contesta stood, reaching out to shake Drew's hand. "We'll finish our discussions and return to the stage in a few minutes. Of course you know you can't be in here while we decide, but we appreciate your honesty and integrity, Mr. Hayden. I know I've said this to you already, but I want to say that I truly look forward to seeing you in the Grand Festival next month."

"Thank you, sir," Drew clasped his hand and shook it firmly, turning to take his leave.

Back on the other side of the door, Drew heard the lock click in place behind him. He'd done his part, and he made his way back to his place in the arena to wait for the results.

Now it was up to May and her talent to take her the rest of the way.

* * *

Drew took his seat back amongst the eager crowd, seeing that Lillian was performing with one of her own Pokémon. Probably a part of the "stall the audience as the judges need more time" protocol.

Drew also noticed Harley was back in place as well, though he wasn't in his casual relaxed position. No, now his shoulders were tight and his body language showcased a whole lot of tension. Drew just rolled his eyes and eased back into his seat, feeling all the more relieved.

Lillian's performance was drawing to a close, and the audience began to cheer once again as the judges appeared on the left side of the arena, making their way back to the panel. Their faces were confident as they smiled and waved to the cheering fans.

They took their seats and nodded to Lillian. Drew focused.

This was it.

"It's time for the first round results!" Lillian announced with a fist in the air. "Here we go; these are the eight contestants that will be moving on to round two. Look!"

Lillian gestured up to the big screen, and contest pass portraits began to appear. One by one, all eight faces lit up the screen, and May's picture shined out from the last available spot. Drew burst out into a huge smile, so relieved, and clapped along with everyone for a few moments.

Meanwhile, below him, Harley was fuming.

"What?" he demanded from no one. "She made it?"

The Cacturne-clad coordinator shot backwards and locked eyes with a now-cocky Drew, who smirked right back at him, and brushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Guess it had to be," Drew mocked Harley.

Eyes twitching, Harley turned back down to the stage, and Drew kept on smirking. He felt like he'd won.

But Harley just smiled to himself. That was just one battle.

And this? This was war.

* * *

The intermission between the appeals and the battle rounds was extended for a few minutes, as Lillian was filled in on the events that transpired in the appeals round. The battle generator randomly paired up the coordinators for their first matches. May was to battle some random coordinator named Dillion. She'd be the last battle of the first round. That meant plenty of time for Drew to watch Harley in the contest's second half. And after the first half, he knew he'd need to.

Drew thought about using the extra time to go see May. He wanted to go back stage and make sure she was okay to keep going into the battle rounds. After all, she'd had a few nasty falls in the first round. It would be okay to go and check on his rival, tell her he was glad she was advancing and wish her luck in the battle rounds. Easy enough, right?

But…he was nervous. Drew had never been nervous before, but he found himself shivering at the thought of seeing May one on one for some reason. Which was absurd; he'd talked to May plenty of times on his own. Why was his heart thudding in his chest so violently?

It was nerve-wracking, and he didn't quite understand it. So, he did the one thing he knew could either calm him down, or help him make sense of this.

He slipped out into an almost empty hallway of the building. Most of the attending persons were either still in the main arena awaiting the second half, or were sneaking off to hit the snack bar or restrooms in between. It was fairly private and Drew felt like he was alone for the most part.

He summoned Roselia.

His starter seemed a bit confused for the sudden wake up call; she'd been enjoying a nice nap inside her Pokéball when Drew asked her to come out into an empty wing of a contest hall. She knew he'd been planning on going to the day's contest to observe.

She used her roses rubbed at her eyes a little bit and looked up towards Drew, stifling a small yawn and stretching a bit. Drew smiled embarrassingly.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?" he asked.

Roselia shrugged him off and smiled sweetly. Whatever this was, it must have been important; she knew her trainer wasn't one to waste time. He nodded.

Drew delved into the story of the first half of the contest; what had happened to May during the appeals and how he was debating on whether or not to go see her. May didn't know he was there, and he didn't know how she would react. She was probably nervous enough as it was.

Roselia listened intently, already knowing they would end up backstage talking to his trainer's rival. Roselia liked the girl a lot, and she knew how flustered Drew could get around her. So when Drew finished talking, she simply grabbed his hand and starting walked towards the backstage waiting rooms.

Drew rolled his eyes with a good-natured smile. Of course Roselia would do this, and maybe she was right; it would be good to see May.

They wandered through the halls together, Drew only stopped briefly to show his contest pass to a person backstage.

He was just about to turn a corner when he swore he could hear May yelling…something about over-sized glasses? His eyebrows went up, and he looked down at Roselia. She returned his confused look, but the two kept going.

That was when he saw her: one of the finalist coordinators wandering the other way muttering something about not blowing her cover. Jessie, from Team Rocket, no doubt. Drew watched her go from behind an open door, debating on whether or not to go after her. He should, shouldn't he? But what good would that do? Drew paused, musing.

"We'll be watching, May!" Ash's voice boomed from inside the waiting room.

Drew and Roselia's gazes shifted to see May, surrounded by her friends as they encouraged her.

"We'll be cheering you on," Brock assured her.

"You're gonna be great out there!" Max added.

May's huge smile beamed, and she nodded to her friends and brother, feeling confident.

"Thanks!"

She looked fine. The first round may not have even happened. Her smile and her posture and her entire being radiated her comfort in taking on the next round, and all her friends had been there with her. She was set, and she didn't need whatever words Drew had been going to give her.

He turned down to Roselia by his side, and she seemed to have the same idea.

 _Let's go back to the stands_.

The pair turned on their heel, a little speed in their pace to avoid a confrontation with May's group.

"You with the hat; you're Ash Ketchum form Pallet Town, yes?" someone asked from behind.

Drew turned. What an oddly specific question. Most people didn't recognize people by the town they were from. It struck him as odd, and he watched the exchange between the confused boys and the mysterious…stage crewmembers? Something wasn't right about this.

"Uh, yeah?" Ash seemed a little taken back.

"There's a phone call for you from home," the man told him.

Yep, something definitely wasn't right. No way a stage crewmember for the contest would be tasked with finding a member of the crowd and then informing them of a phone call. It just wouldn't happen; security, maybe, but this wasn't right.

Drew rushed back to hide behind the open door, Roselia following wordlessly as she paid attention, too.

"Huh? From my mom?" Ash now seemed a little worried. "What's wrong?"

"Not to worry, son," the crewmember calmed him. "Why don't you all come?"

It was obvious that no red flags went up for the group. Not even Brock, who Drew had come to recognize as the intelligent member of their little team. It made no sense that a crewmember would seek out Ash for a phone call from his mother that required them _all_ to go? If there truly was something wrong, that was a personal issue, and it didn't involve Max or Brock.

Were they all that dense? No wonder May missed the bigger picture a lot of the time; look at the people she hung out with…

"Let's go," Brock agreed.

"Let's!" the man led them away.

Drew rolled his eyes and face palmed, Roselia sharing his look of disbelief. The pair exchanged looks.

Distant echoes of Lillian addressing the crowd could be heard from the hallway. She was calling attention to the beginning of the battle rounds. Drew and his starter ignored the call for the audience to take their seats.

"Looks like we'll miss the first battle or two," Drew whispered to Roselia.

The two slowly emerged from their hiding spot, following the group from a safe distance, careful not to be seen.

* * *

Arceus help him. This was moronic at this point.

The mysterious crewmembers lead Ash, Brock and Max to an isolated hallway, far away from the main arena or anyone else. None of this made sense, and how could anyone fall for such an obvious ploy? The thought of Team Rocket entered his mind, and sure enough, it was about to be confirmed.

Drew stopped when they'd reached the end of a hallway, two large metal doors open revealing a dark space. The coordinator and his Roselia leaned against the wall, behind a rather large decorative plant. They blended in perfectly, not that he was worried about being seen at this point. No one in front of him seemed the least bit bright at this point.

In truth, he could have stopped this along the way, and made it back to the audience to see the battles. Wasn't that why he was here? To see the final contest of the season? It was mere weeks away from the Grand Festival; he should be training, not dealing with this. But he couldn't deny his curiosity. Of course, there was always the chance that something was wrong and he was just being paranoid. Fat chance, though.

"The phone is right in here," the man ushered the trio into the room.

"Thanks," Ash bided, stepping forward with his friends.

The second they were all inside, the crewmembers shut the doors, and locked them tightly. The reactions of betrayal were instant, and Drew could hear the friends shouting from behind the doors and banging on them. Now he'd have to play hero, and weren't they lucky he'd followed? Drew smirked to himself; who couldn't have see this coming?

"At this rate, we might miss all of the battles," he laughed darkly under his breath, and Roselia muttered something inaudible.

A Wobbuffet appeared beside the other two, confirming to Drew that it was in fact Team Rocket, and their schemes for the contest clearly weren't over. But this seemed too smart; Harley definitely planned this one for them. After all, this group was the reason his plan in the first round was thwarted. Ash was the one who'd stopped them in the rafters.

So that was the plan; separate May's friends from her so they couldn't stop whatever was coming next. Drew had to hand it to Harley; he was pretty evil.

Suddenly, Meowth produced some kind of remote and slammed his claw down on a button. The building began shaking. The walls surrounding the doors suddenly fell away, opening to the outside. Drew instinctually went down to his knees and grabbed Roselia close to him, just incase the walls behind them were fake as well. They held, and he breathed a quick sigh of relief.

Drew watched with somewhat wide eyes as the all-too familiar Meowth balloon inflated itself over a small metal box and began to pull the prison up into the sky. This was definitely going too far. The bad guys stifled laughter and wandered away while Drew watched, dumbstruck and frozen in place.

It was apparent that Team Rocket and Harley wanted to prove a point; we're not playing around. And it was clear, because May's friends were in serious danger.

 _May._

Realization hit Drew like a bolt of lighting. Roselia's eyes shot up as her partner stiffened, a dangerous look flashed in his eyes.

Priorities was the first word that came to mind. Who should he go after first? May, or her friends. Drew didn't have much time to go through the motions in his head. May's friends were getting higher and higher by the second, and the more up in the air they went, the more their lives were at risk. Logic told Drew this: the friends were in danger now and May at the moment, for all he knew, was safe.

The battle rounds had just begun, after all. May wouldn't go until last, and the two henchmen clearly needed direction from Harley on what to do next. So, for the moment, May was probably safe...hopefully. It was her companions that needed him in the moment. And looking up at that box made him feel physically ill.

If Team Rocket and Harley were willing to go this far with May's friends, Drew couldn't even begin to let himself imagine what they would do to her. It was frightening, to know that mere moments ago, he was laughing at the absurdity of this whole situation. Now there was ice in his veins.

Roselia had never seen Drew move so mechanically. It was almost terrifying, the dark look that settled on his features. In one swift motion, a new Pokéball was in his hand. He said nothing as he lobbed the ball back into the air and Flygon exploded out, landing on the ground before him and looking slightly startled by his trainer's expression. Drew switched Flygon's Pokéball with another.

"We need to go," Drew instructed, leaping on Flygon's back and returning Roselia to her Pokéball before she could protest.

Flygon waited for Drew to point in a direction before he took off, thinking they were flying to a new city, but Drew pointed straight up. Flygon's gaze caught sight of a mysterious box floating high above them.

"That thing has to come down, _now_ ," Drew ordered, his voice razor sharp.

Flygon obeyed, springing off the ground with his powerful wings, and leapt into the air to go after the giant box.

The winds had shifted, and started carrying the box towards the east. Drew and his Flygon chased it down as quickly as they could and soon were hovering right behind the massive steel trap. Looking at this immense prison was daunting. Drew was formulating just how he was going to safely get this box back on the ground; a seemingly impossible task. There were lives at stake in this situation; something Drew had only dealt with once, back on Mirage Island. But this time, it wasn't just his life, and it wasn't just May's life. there were three people involved. Three young lives now rested on Drew's shoulders, and _nothing_ compared to the pressure of knowing that.

The wind whipped at his face as Drew tried not to focus on the possible negative outcome of this situation. He racked his brain in the few precious seconds he had to figure out a combination; anything that could get this box down, and he only came up with one that sort of made sense. It wasn't exactly ideal, but Drew was wasting time he didn't have trying to think of anything else. It was settled; he'd go with his only shot.

This combination had to both work, and it had to ensure that everyone lived, the latter being very, very, _very_ important. Drew couldn't imagine having to tell May he fucked up coming up with a simple combination (a skill he bragged about often) and that he couldn't save her friends or her little brother.

He _wouldn't_ fail her. This had to work.

"Listen, Flygon, there's people in there," Drew warned him. "We need to be extremely careful, and we need to be fast."

Flygon grew nervous; no doubt he could sense the nerves coursing through his trainer. And Drew knew he needed to calm himself down before even attempting this. So closing his eyes, he steadied himself on Flygon's back, and rubbed the sides of Flygon's neck in a comforting manner. He took in as much air as his lungs could hold and slowly released it. Flygon responded to his deep breath by taking on of his own.

Drew's eyes shot open and he glared at that damn balloon, waiting just one extra second to ensure they were in a good landing zone. They were hovering over a green space; Mulberry City Park, no doubt. This was as good a chance as he would get. Had he waited to get out of the city, he definitely wouldn't make it back in time to help May.

It was now or never, and he couldn't afford to hesitate any longer.

"Flygon, the second you hit that thing, we need to get down below it, alright?" Drew commanded. "Drop me the second you can and get into position for a follow up."

Flygon sounded back. Drew braced himself.

"Steel wing that balloon, GO!"

Flygon's wings glowed blindingly bright, and he soared through the air onside of the balloon. His left wing clipped the material, effortlessly slicing a giant gaping hole through it. Not a second later, Flygon dove towards the ground, and Drew swung his legs over the right side of his Pokémon's back. Flygon swooped down close to the ground, and Drew threw himself off of his Pokémon, running towards the box as soon as his feet his the dirt to prevent himself from falling. Flygon flipped himself over in the air and darted back towards the now plummeting box. It was a perfect swoop of motions, and so far, so good. But Drew didn't dare sigh in relief just yet.

"SANDSTORM, GO!"

Flygon obliged immediately, understanding.

The sandy tornado quickly formed underneath the box, and Flygon did his absolute best to slow down the trap's descent. It didn't slow it down as much as Drew had wanted, but there was nothing more he could do. He watched as the box landed 50 yards in front of him and he kept up his sprint towards the box.

There weren't moans or cheers or any signs of reactions coming from the inside of the box as Drew approached. Maybe the metal walls were too thick...or maybe...

 _You idiots better be okay!_

Flygon landed in front of the box just as Drew skidded to a halt as well. There were still no sounds coming from in the inside, and Drew bit his tongue and stared at the box intently.

"Alright, let's finish this up," Drew looked up to his Flygon, trying to mask his nerves. "Give it a flamethrower, but no where near full power. We need to make sure they're okay."

Flygon nodded, and let forth a stream of fire from his mouth. Drew marveled at just how small and skinny the flamethrower looked. This insignificant display was no where near what he was used to seeing from his Pokémon. But it was working; red hot metal and a small shower of sparks hinted at the metal bending to the will of the flames.

It was a long few seconds. The longest of Drew's life, just waiting to see if he'd done the right thing, or fucked up beyond the point of no return. His heart was beating so rapidly in his chest that he wondered if having a heart attack at his age was possible. At this heart rate, probably.

Slowly but surely the metal started to give way to his Pokémon's fire, and finally the door gave way and flew off.

Were they okay? A thick cloud of smoke and Flygon obstructed his view. He pulled out Flygon's Pokéball and hastily returned him. He'd have to thank Flygon later. The smoke continued to block the way. Drew held his breath.

"Whose there?!" he heard Ash demand from behind the thick cloud.

 _Thank. Fucking. Arceus._

Not that you were EVER supposed to curse the Pokémon god's name, but Drew couldn't help it. He was sure he'd never feel so much elation in his life. Drew almost cracked a smile with how relieved he was. _Almost_.

As May's group emerged from their prison, Drew's eyes scanned them all, especially May's younger brother, checking them for any signs of injuries. Mew only knew how May would have reacted had Max had any scratches on him. They all seemed perfectly okay, just surprised and shaken up a bit.

The stillness couldn't last, though. Time wasn't on their side.

"It's Drew!" they all realized simultaneously.

They looked like they wanted to thank him, but Drew shook his head furiously.

"Let's hurry, May's in big trouble!" he commanded.

They all looked startled, but Max's eyes were definitely the widest. Drew didn't waste time trying to explain the situation to them. He simply turned on his heel and started his mad sprint back to the contest hall. The sound of their thundering footsteps behind him could be heard.

"What's gonna happen to my sister?!" Max demanded, running right along side him.

"I'm–I'm not really sure, Max," Drew admitted between huffs.

He heard Max mutter some kind of swear under his breath, but he couldn't blame the eight-year-old. He was swearing, too.

"Don't worry, Max," Ash assured him from behind. "We won't let anything bad happen to her."

Drew almost scoffed. _He_ wouldn't let her be hurt, but he had his doubts about her crew. They got themselves into their own dangerous situation, and thanks to Drew, they were able to try to help her. Had it been up to them exclusively...Drew shivered. Thank Mew he'd gone to the Mulberry Contest.

The stress was getting to him, the fear that something might happen to her if he wasn't fast enough very prominent in his mind. Drew knew that by now, the battle rounds would be well underway. May had probably already finished her battle by now. Drew cringed; the unknown haunted him, and he felt himself run just a little faster.

The contest hall was just peaking up over the tree line of the park when suddenly, they weren't running anymore. They were falling.

The ground suddenly collapsed beneath their feet, and the group plummeted into a huge hole. They hit the ground with a huge thud, and they all moaned in pain.

 _Oh, what the fuck now…_

Drew was the first one to get up. He ignored his pain and glared straight up at the sky. The hole they were in was too perfectly dug; this was probably another trap.

Suddenly, a steal gate was lowered over their only escape. Yep, definitely a trap.

"Perfect!" Meowth cheered, suddenly looking down at them. "Old tricks work the best!"

"We just love filling traps with twerps!" James sang.

Drew glared up at them with so much hatred he though he might somehow melt the bars. James and Meowth noticed this, and seemed to back away and inch.

Oh, when he got out of there, they'd better back away miles…

"Team Rocket!" Ash exploded, jumping back up on his feet.

"I should have known!" Brock hissed.

 _Yeah, you really should have._

"You know, Harley sure knows his stuff," Meowth bragged. "You make a trap, and then you back it up with anther trap!"

A thought occurred to Drew. Harley had planned for _this_. He knew Drew would follow May's friends and save them when they were trapped the first time. And he planned this second trap to ensnare Drew as well. Oh, he was good. Drew kicked himself for falling for it. And now, because he had been so foolish, May was going to suffer.

"Perhaps we should approach that green genius about joining Team Rocket's ranks!" James pondered gleefully. "Think of it: our own special ops anti blast-off officer!"

"Yeah, sounds real modern!" Meowth laughed.

His hands balled into fists and his teeth were gritted. This was not happening.

"Harley's a part of this, too?" Ash demanded, finally catching on.

"You guys–" Max started.

"Think of it as a one day vacation from all your twerp-filled stress," James bargained.

"Lots of fresh air and all that dirt!" Meowth spat.

The two backed away out of sight, and Ash glared hard up at the sky.

"You can't leave us!" he yelled.

"Yeah, watch!" Meowth called back.

Fear gripped Max's heart. He balled his fists up as if he was prepared to fight. Drew watched him, and noticed the panic in his eyes. He was scared for his sister. Drew could empathize; he was scared, too.

"We gotta figure out a way to get out of here and go help May!" Max said, desperately.

"You're right, Max," Ash said a little lowly, trying to calm the kid down a bit, but the worry was evident on his face, too. "What do we do?"

Flygon could have easily flown through that weak gate and gotten them out, but the hole was too small and Flygon couldn't fit in there without hurting itself, and possibly them, too. Masquerain would have been too light to push the gate up. Absol and Roselia couldn't do much, either. So as angry as he was, Drew also realized with a bit of dread that he was pretty useless.

Brock suddenly stepped forward, a Pokéball in hand. Drew raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"I'll take care of this," Brock said confidently. "Now, Forretress, let's go!"

Brock's steel-bug type burst out, levitating and awaiting command. Brock looked down proudly at his Pokémon.

"Forretress, rapid spin!" Brock shouted, pointing upward at the barrier.

The Pokémon obliged, and shot towards the top at an alarming rate of speed. The group watched amazed as the top cage torn as easily as if it were a piece of paper. Brock had raised this Pokémon well.

The Pokémon floated back down to the waiting trainers, and Brock patted him on the head.

"Way to go, buddy," Brock praised, much to his Pokémon's delight. "Do you think you could lift us out of this hole, one by one?"

Forretress affirmed him, and waited for the first volunteer.

"I'm going first," Drew informed everyone, not giving them the chance to refuse.

Everyone was surprised, but no one moved to object. Drew wrapped his arms around the Pokémon and they began to float up towards the opening in the ground. Drew jumped off instantly when he was in the clear and grabbed Roselia's Pokéball from his pocket ready to release her and take on Team Rocket.

But they were nowhere in sight.

Drew's eyes scanned the nearby area, and as he heard one of May's friends land behind him, he could just make out their retreating forms, nearing the entrance to the contest hall.

"We need to go," Drew informed whoever was behind him.

"Right."

It was Max, and he instantly agreed.

Forretress was just going back down to retrieve the next person, but Drew didn't wait. He and Max took off towards the hall, knowing Ash and Brock would follow suit.

The giant screen on the front of the building was broadcasting the contest live. Drew could see the hall was prepping for the final battle: May vs. Jessie.

Drew realized he'd missed all of the battle rounds, and he expected some part of him to feel something negative about it. He'd made his way to Mulberry City to watch this contest, and he's barely had the opportunity. But he couldn't find it in himself to care. Just like he couldn't spare any concern for the burning in his lungs as he ran with everything he had.

Nothing mattered in those moments. Not missing the contest, not the pain that his body was starting to feel from being dropped in a hole or pushed to his limits. Not even the Grand Festival. No.

The only thing that mattered in the whole universe right then and there, was making sure that the beautiful girl in the red bandana running on stage on the screen before him was safe, unharmed and happy.

May was just taking her place on the stage when Drew and Max burst through front doors, some stragglers looking at them strangely as they heaved.

"Where'd they go?" Drew hissed down to Max.

"There!" Max pointed, and Drew's eyes just barely caught the retreating back of James as they retreated around a corner.

Brock and Ash finally caught up to them, and the four ran after the crooks.

A sign above head told Drew they were heading for the basement.

* * *

"Get the lead out," Harley commanded as James and Meowth approached him. "Our girl is just about to begin."

The three of them were unaware that May's friends and her rival were hot on their trail. James and Meowth stopped in front of their temporary partner. Both were satisfied with themselves.

"Goodie, and this time, we're twerp-less," James assured Harley.

"They're in a hole, and we're on a roll!" Meowth proudly laughed.

Drew ran in the lead of May's friends. They could hear the echoes of the smirk remarks from the bad guys, and Drew realized they were close. Drew stopped himself before turning a corner, and held out his arm to stop the friends running behind him. He quickly turned to face their confused faces, and Ash opened his mouth to speak, but Drew held a finger to his mouth and shushed him with a hard glare. Ash's eyes were wide but he said nothing. The four of them slid against the wall, out of sight and stayed hidden. Drew wanted to hear this plan.

"Alright, where are we rolling to, next?" James asked.

"Your Pokémon if you please," Harley said simply.

"Our what?" James and Meowth gasped in surprise.

"If you'll notice, we're standing directly below where May is…" Harley began, and Drew gulped. "So what better place than here for us to snatch May's victory right out from under that annoying little button nose of hers?"

Harley's voice had risen in volume by the end, and the venom in his tone was evident. Drew pursed his lips and took a small breath through his nose, trying to steady himself. He prided himself on composure, and Harley was surely pushing it now.

Trapping May's friends and sending them off had _angered_ him. Tricking and trapping him along with her friends had _pissed him off_. But threatening to physically harm May, by blowing out the stage from under her and causing her to fall…well, it lit something in him. In the pit of his stomach, Drew felt something dangerous and violent burning. It was a rage he'd never felt before, and it was a level of utter hatred he'd never though possible.

This was so far beyond a stunt at this point that it wasn't even funny. Harley was insane. He almost killed May's friends and now he was contemplating hurting her – possibly killing her – like it was nothing. All over a single contest. Nothing May could have done to Harley was worth this.

And it burned him, _deeply_.

Drew fought to keep his face even, but he could feel his eyes twitching, and his teeth grinded together and he tried to keep his breathing even.

No one threatened May.

 _No fucking one_.

"Yeah, cool!" Meowth chimed, as if it was casual.

"Consider my Pokémon yours!" James provided, twisting the knife inside of Drew even more.

James' Cacnea and Mime Jr. appeared, and Harley cooed at their cuteness.

"We'll work the same as with Ariados," Harley explained, gesturing upwards. "You all just wait here for my signal, and BAM! Miss priss gets it."

"Okie dokie!" Team Rocket nodded.

Drew felt his foot slide forward. He'd had enough, and he was just reaching for a Pokéball – he didn't care which one he grabbed – but Max sprang out before him and a blinding speed. Ash followed him, and Drew jumped out before Brock could. The four of them appeared before Harley and Team Rocket.

"Team Rocket!" Ash practically screamed.

The group skidded to a halt before the bad guys, eyeing them up. James and Meowth exchanged glances between the four boys, and Ash, Brock and Max were looking at the others in turn. Drew and Harley, however, kept their eyes locked solely on each other. Drew was glaring at Harley with all the hate he felt, and Harley stared back at him, looking bored. It irked Drew even more. Harley was way too good at this game.

"Twerps on the lose?" Meowth called out in disbelief.

"We had a lock on you!" James complained.

"Alright, I know you guys are up to no good!" Ash yelled.

"We can't help it if our Jessie wants her 15 minutes of fame," James argued.

"And believe me, you don't wanna get on her bad side!" Meowth agreed.

"You mean to say that Jessabella is actually Jessie?" Brock recoiled a bit, and if Drew wasn't locked in a death stare with Harley, he would have rolled his eyes.

Max didn't seem so phased by the revelation.

"And I guess Harley's a full-fledged member of Team Rocket now, huh?" he challenged.

That did it. Harley's glare snapped away from Drew and focused down on May's little brother. He looked severely offended at Max's claim, and Drew raised an eyebrow watching the shift in expression.

"I MAY BE DEVIOUS, BUT I'M _NOT_ DUMB!" Harley seethed, then seemingly recomposed himself. "You're all getting to be a big bore."

"Old habits die hard…" James whined.

Harley strolled through Team Rocket casually and planted himself right in front of Drew. Drew stared up at him, waiting for anything. And Harley had more than proved that he was willing to do just about anything.

"Drew, darling," Harley cooed down towards Drew softly, a dark smirk forming on his face. "So you're a twerp, too?"

Drew stepped forward to meet him.

"You think you're clever, don't you?" Drew shot back, but Harley seemed unaffected.

It bothered Drew immensely, knowing he clearly couldn't touch this guy. Harley had conned him and messed with his head all weekend.

"The cleverest," Harley waved him off. "Truth is true, hun."

Harley stepped to the side again, turning his back to the younger boys and prepared to make his exit. Team Rocket seemed just as shocked as they were that Harley intended to just…leave. It didn't surprise Drew in the slightest that Harley would cause all this trouble and then try to slip away.

"Where are you going?!" James questioned.

"Yeah, we got work to do!" Meowth added.

"Alright, I'll come clean for a change," Harley faked a sigh, rubbing his nose a bit and dismissing their presence.

He then turned back around to face Drew and the others, clasping his hands together under his chin and smiling.

"See, I'm sure my lovely Banette will give May a run for her money," Harley explained.

Though Drew understood the point immediately, the boys beside him seemed appalled.

"I get it," Max screeched. "I guess that's your Cacturne she's using, too?"

"C'mon, you know that's not fair!" Ash boomed as well.

"What; you cut me to the quick!"" Harley gasped, but then morphed into a sinister smile, looking directly at Drew. "All is fair in _love_ and in battle. And there is no rule _anywhere_ that says you can't use someone else's Pokémon."

It was true. Drew had known that already, but May's friends seemed to be taking it a little harder. He didn't have time to blame them really, nor did Drew want to. None of them were coordinators, so he couldn't possibly expect them to know the rules that well. Plus, with the glint in his eye, it was clear Harley was going to proudly explain it. Drew just continued to glare.

"After all, darlings, it's not a coordinator's job to raise Pokémon," Harley continued. "It's to show them off. And hun, when it comes to that, there's not a soul in this ever-loving world who knows how to show off better than our Jessabella."

Harley's dark smile was menacing, and the three next to Drew seemed to recoil back a bit, but Drew held his ground. It was Drew's turn to go on the offensive, because he was done listening to this older coordinator's schemes and malicious intentions. He'd had enough of Harley.

But then Drew understood. Harley had spent the last few hours relentlessly messing with Drew's head and getting under his skin, with threats and cons and everything in between. And as Drew looked up at this sly, creepy and conniving coordinator in front of him, Drew knew that there was only one single way to get right back at him.

Drew planted a tight smirk on his face, showing Harley he wasn't afraid of him. That he wasn't bothered by Harley's antics, but his eyes said if he ever tried to hurt May again, he wouldn't hesitate to take him down.

"Aren't you smart?" Drew chimed in, relaxing back into himself.

Harley's eyes flashed, and locked themselves on Drew's own. Green eyes meeting blue, and Harley folded his arms over his chest.

"We're close to the Grand Festival, Drew," Harley reminded him. "I suggest you not make me any angrier than you already have."

"Back at ya," Drew said calmly, with daring eyes and a dark and tight smile on his face.

Then, finally, thankfully, Harley's smooth composure cracked. Drew saw it in the way his lip twitched slightly, and his smirk folded down into an irked smile. Drew just kept on grinning, and watched with satisfaction as Harley spun on his heel and strutted away, walking awkwardly. Team Rocket followed behind him, begging him to stop.

With all of their backs turned to him, Drew's smile faded back into a scowl, the adrenaline starting to fade and the anger catching back up with him. The danger was finally passed, and he was coming down off his high.

 _What a fucking day…_

"I don't know what we would have done without you back there, Drew," Ash said graciously.

It felt like, in the middle of all his tension with Harley, Drew had forgotten he wasn't alone. And hearing Ash's voice so calm and relaxed while he felt torn up inside cut him a bit. He turned to face May's companions, a twinge of bitterness still clawing at his insides. May had almost gotten seriously hurt because of their carelessness. She could have even...

 _No_.

He didn't want to think like that. Not now, or ever. Just the possibility alone fueled anxiety in his heart, and Drew was overwhelmed.

"I only did it so May would have someone cheering her own," he said roughly, flicking his hair out of his eyes.

Drew knew he was speaking out of spite. He knew he should have been nicer about it. He was holding onto a lot of anger and he knew it was going to stick with him for a while.

But deep down inside, he couldn't deny that he felt much better knowing everyone was safe, and that May and her friends would be okay.

Ash seemed a little surprised and angry at Drew's response, but before he could reply, Brock's hand settled on his shoulder, settling his young friend down.

"Well, anyways, thanks for the save, Drew," Brock said. "We'll be sure to tell May what happened."

"Yeah, sure," Drew shrugged, waving to them and leaving to go take his seat.

To his surprise, they followed him.

"Why don't you sit with us, Drew?" Brock tried again. "I'm sure May would love to see you after the show."

Drew bit his lip, and thought about it. Sitting with May's friends wasn't exactly appealing, but he concluded it was far better than sitting near Harley, assuming he'd gone back to his seat as well.

Drew hummed in response, and Brock moved in front of him to escort him there. It could have been worse.

At least he could watch May in the final battle, to see if she would, in fact, make it to the Grand Festival.

Because even after all that drama, this still contest wasn't over.

* * *

Drew and Brock sat together, while Ash and Max took up the two seats below. Ash and Max had been chatting it up while Drew remained silent, and Brock knew not to try to push him to talk.

It was obvious that the green-haired boy was still shaken up about May's almost ordeal.

"Okay, Squirtle, take the stage!" May ordered.

The tiny turtle Pokémon jumped out, flipping through the air and stretching its hands to wave to the crowd. It was greeted with a chorus of cheers, the crowd approving of the cuteness factor.

"Now, Banette, let's go!"

Banette sprang forward as well, landing in front of May's Squirtle and smiling darkly at its opponent.

"Let's have ourselves a good time for this final round, okay?" May called out to her partner.

The clock started its countdown, and the match began. Jessie wasted no time, clearly trying to get a quick K.O.

She called for Banette to use thunder, which would surely take out May's water type if it hit its target too many times. The electricity shot for Squirtle and knocked it back before May could even blink. Squirtle fell on its back in front of May, who looked surprised. Something seemed familiar to her about this Pokémon she was facing…

"Squirtle, please, get up!" Ash shouted from the seat below.

"That Banette's strong," Brock mused from next to Drew.

May kneelt down to talk to her Pokémon, and after a few seconds, Squirtle rose back up, ready to continue. Drew smirked; he knew May and her Pokémon were very aware of their final shot, and they wouldn't lose it to one single thunder.

Once he was ready, May called out for an ice beam, and the water type sprayed out a strong beam of ice, hitting Banette and encasing it in ice. The direct hit evened out the points, and Jessie looked appalled.

"Will-o-wisp!" Jessie ordered.

Banette shattered the ice surrounding it and breathed out shot after shot of blue flames after May's Pokémon, still soaring through the air after the last attack. May quickly called for Squirtle to dodge, and Squirtle cleverly tucked itself inside of its shell and maneuvered through the assaulting flames.

"Squirtle looks like a spaceship dodging meteorites, and that Banette's giving us some serious meteorites!"

The missed shots smashed into each other in the air, creating showers of blue sparks.

"I can't believe I'm seeing this," Ash commented.

"Yeah…" Brock murmured.

"Harley did a great job raising that Banette," Drew reluctantly admitted.

Brock seemed surprised that Drew had warmed up enough to speak, but he didn't want to look a gift Ponyta in the mouth.

"Don't worry; I'm sure May's got something planned up," Brock said. "She spent a lot of time training for this contest, you know."

"We'll see…" Drew said.

Jessie tried another thunder attack, but May was ready this time.

"That's enough of that!" she cried out. "Use bubble!"

The strong jet of bubbles hit back at the thunder attack, and shocked everyone when it broke through and beat down Banette. Drew raised an eyebrow, impressed. May's Squirtle had undeniably gotten strong over a tough season of hard battles.

Jessie lost a lot of points from her electric attack being stopped by a water attack defense, and May cheered for her partner. But it was an entirely different display on the opposite side of the field. Jessie berated her Pokémon for the lost points, and Banette seemed extra distressed when it was ordered to go into frustration.

That wasn't good.

Banette's frustration attack was coming in hard and fast at Squirtle, slapping and smashing the poor turtle's head fiercely. May watched horrified and commanded for Squirtle to hide inside its shell once again.

Squirtle retreated, but Banette didn't let up, and kept stomping on Squirtle's shell relentlessly.

"Frustration's really powerful?" Ash said, but it sounded like a question.

"That's 'cause her Pokémon belongs to someone else," Drew explained.

"No way!" Max replied, still not understanding.

"Frustration is always much stronger when it's used by a Pokémon with a trainer they're not feeling close to," Brock supplied before Drew could finish.

"That means Banette must be feelin' the exact same way about Jessie," Ash pieced together.

"Why would you use a move like that when it's combinations that win contests?" Max observed.

Regardless of Max's observation, May was taking a lot of hits, and her points were dropping. She needed to do something if she didn't want to lose her one chance at the festival. But a brief look at May's expression told Drew not to worry, because she had an escape plan.

"Rapid spin, go!"

Brilliant.

Squirtle picked up speed as it began to twist, spinning Banette around in the process. May cried out for her partner to move even faster, and eventually, Banette couldn't stay balanced anymore. It flew off the top of its opponent, and Jessie lost more points for losing her advantage.

And she was furious.

"And here I thought you could think on your feet!" she yelled at the dizzy Banette.

Thinking back to her earlier success, she screamed out for another will-o-wisp attack. But May continued her momentum. Every blue ball of fire Banette produced, Squirtle used his rapid spin to dispel. The flames exploded, and May kept chipping away at her growingly-aggravated opponent's points.

"Good thinking!" Ash praised.

"That's my sister!" Max cheered.

"Not only have May and Squirtle got them completely off guard, they're both getting angrier," Brock commented.

"Hmm," Drew mused to himself.

May was doing well, but with Harley's Pokémon, you just never knew what to expect. Still, he had to admit it was an incredible sight, seeing May's water Pokémon bound so effortlessly across a water-less stage. Now this took serious talent. The judges seemed equally as impressed.

Once again, a thunder attack. Once again, May's Squirtle dodged it easily. The powerful electric attack crashed into the ground with a huge plum of smoke, but no one's eyes were on the damage. Everyone was watching May's Squirtle as it soared right above Banette.

May called for a tackle, and the Squirtle pounded itself into its opponent. Jessie flinched away as Banette slammed into the ground, and Squirtle bounced back to May cheerfully.

"Wow, awesome move!" Ash said.

"Banette sure got hit HARD!" Max agreed.

"Terrific combination," Brock prodded Drew gently.

Drew didn't reply verbally, but the smirk Brock saw slide onto his face said it all.

Even more satisfying to Drew, was the knowledge that somewhere, Harley was seeing this happen. And May was proving that she was better than his Pokémon. This was the best revenge he could have on Harley, and he soaked in every remaining second. Oh, what he would have paid to actually see Harley's face…

"I'm frustrated, so that's what we'll use!" Jessie shouted.

Banette desperately launched himself at his opponent. May wasn't having it, though. She knew frustration alone wasn't going to win this contest, and May had relaxed into herself a long time ago.

"Squirtle, ice beam, let's go now!"

Squirtle braced itself for the attack, but it never came. Instead of ice shooting out of Squirtle's slowly opening mouth, a huge ding rang through the arena. The match was over.

Everyone in the arena was shocked. Instead of the victor's face lighting up the scoreboard, the two coordinators seemed to be deadlocked. An even score, no clear winner emerged from the battle.

Drew shot forward in his seat a little. He had _never_ seen this type of thing happen in a contest…well, ever. Of course there were rules in place should something like this happen, but still. Drew realized this was the first time in contest history a final match would be determined by a tiebreaker. Well, no one said getting the Grand Festival was easy.

May and her Squirtle exchanged confused looked. Meanwhile, Jessie was throwing a hissy fit.

"But I don't wanna tie!" Jessie whined. "I wanna win!"

"Now what happens?" Ash inquired.

Drew hummed to himself, intrigued.

Lillian's MC duties kicked in, and the hot ran to the center of the stage to address the crowd, spinning with excitement.

"Because the Grand Festival is just ahead of us, this unusual turn of events will be settled in a most unusual way!" she said, finishing her elegant twirl. "So now, get ready: we're going into sudden death over time!"

"Overtime?" May seemed a little unsure, and her eyes shot over to where she knew her friends were sitting.

Max gave her a big smile and two thumbs up, while Ash gave her a strong nod.

"Fine with me!" Jessie smiled again. "Back from the brink."

May didn't have time to look over to Brock before she had to divert her attention back to Lillian and her opponent. She wasn't sure what overtime was, but she needed to learn as quickly as possible. Her trip to the Grand Festival was at stake here, as was her chance to prove to her rival that she could be just as good as he was. She hoped Drew was watching, wherever he was.

"In overtime, whoever reduces the other coordinator's points to zero is the winner," Lillian referenced the rulebook, which she handed back to Mr. Contesta. "Simple, right to the point, and _no_ time limits!"

"Excellent," Brock remarked. "Straight to the point. After all, it's not like they don't know each other's moves or anything by now."

"This is exactly the kind of situation when the relationship between a coordinator and their Pokémon is most important," Drew explained to May's group.

And it was how Drew knew May had this. She loved her Pokémon, and had proved that time and time again. She had an unshakable sense of faith and an unbreakable bond with each member of her team. It was part of what made her such a great fit in the coordinating world. And it was one of the many things Drew had grown to admire about her so damn much.

Even now, standing on that stage, looking fiercely determined and undeniably proud of her Squirtle, Drew's heart thundered for the girl he'd come to know as his rival, and maybe something more.

The tension on the field between May and Jessie was growing. Both eagerly awaited the final buzzer so they could finish this. One of them was going to walk away a winner, and both of them wanted it horribly.

"Okay, Squirtle, just a little bit longer," May cheered on her tired Pokémon.

"Banette, that contest ribbon and I are destined for each other!" Jessie chided. "I warn you, _don't_ mess this up!"

Banette seemed more tense than before. This trainer wasn't like his own, and he couldn't feel a connection to her like he did with Harley. Plus, it didn't help seeing how confident his opponents were opposite of him. It wracked Banette with nerves.

"Overtime, let's go!" Lillian shouted.

The crowd roared as the battle sprang back into life.

"Use thunder!" Jessie didn't hesitate.

Banette raised its hand and charged up the powerful attack, but May was already calling for the dodge before Banette could even strike. Squirtle leapt out of harm's way and shot off an ice beam at May's command, which in turn was also dodged.

"So fast and beautiful…" Lillian spoke of the teetering points. "When it comes to points, it's like a see-saw out here!"

May and Jessie's points each lowered with every dodge. But Banette took the initiative and jumped over Squirtle's head. The wil-o-wisp that followed was quick, but May had already gotten out of this situation multiple times in this battle. And Jessie clearly hadn't learned her lesson the first few times.

Squirtle tucked itself into another rapid spin, but this time, May combined it with bubble. A vortex of sparkly bubbles formed, and exploded when they collided in the air with the oncoming fireballs. The force pushed Banette back, much to May's delight and Jessie's fury.

"Banette, with you open your eyes?" Jessie demanded.

May was fired up now, not breaking down in her assault. Her heart pounded as she realized that she was inching towards the Grand Festival, and the ribbon cup. Her hands were sweating now, but she knew she couldn't stop.

"Use ice beam!"

Banette was still distracted by Jessie, and couldn't hope to dodge the violent ice beam that hit him. He found himself frozen once again in a huge block of ice. But still, May wasn't satisfied.

"Now use rapid spin!"

Drew watched with admiration from his seat. She was on fire, and this girl's power thrilled and terrified Drew all at once. It was the same rush he'd seen when they last faced off in Hoenn's Grand Festival, and Drew began to realize that that battle was going to come again. He was going to see her in the ultimate contest again.

He would get to battle May in the Grand Festival again.

The thought had his heart doing flips in his chest.

As Squirtle dash madly at Banette, the ghost Pokémon managed to break the ice trapping it just in time to be met with the sight of Squirtle's shell. May ordered a tackle combination just to utilized the speed Squirtle built up to its full potential, sending Banette plummeting to the ground and barely able to move at Jessie's feet.

When Jessie demanded Banette continue the fight, he collapsed back onto the ground, and the X's appeared on the judges' panels. Banette could not continue the fight.

In a lightning fast overtime, May had crushed her opponent and taken the match. Hell, she'd taken the whole contest.

"Jessabella and Banette's points are down to zero, which means this overtime is history!" Lillian announced to the stadium.

Jessie tired to argue that the match could continue, but with a quick re-explanation of the overtime rules, Jessie realized she had lost and fell down in shame.

"Here are your Mulberry contest winners: May and Squirtle! All of you people couldn't have a better champion!"

The applause and praise erupted from all of the stands. Everyone in the crowd shot to their feet and screamed for May and the incredible battle she'd put on. Drew shot up and was clapping before any of May's friends could stand. Her smiling face and gracious bows made him so damn proud of her.

May lifted her Squirtle into her arms and hugged him tightly in congratulations.

"Alright, May got her fifth ribbon for real!" Ash applauded.

"And now May's going to the Grand Festival!" Max grinned.

"It only gets crazier from here," Brock elbowed Drew lightly.

Drew was so damn happy for her, and loved watching May step up to receive her fifth ribbon.

* * *

The sun was setting on Mulberry City, as well as the regular contest season in all of Kanto.

What a crazy thought, to realize how quickly it had all gone by. Drew couldn't help but feel that this season felt even shorter than Hoenn's had. And now here they were, on their way to the start of Kanto's top contest.

Of course, by the time Drew checked his PokéNav at the end of the show, he'd been bombarded with missed messages from Solidad. Most of, if not all of them, mentioned May, and how excited Solidad would be to finally get to meet her at the Grand Festival. Drew pursed his lips at the thought, but there was nothing he could do about it for now. At least he still had a month of peace…

The golden sky in Mulberry was growing darker as the minutes ticked by. May had no doubt been trapped by press and reporters after the end of the contest, so it made sense that it was taking so long for her to emerge.

Drew separated from May's friends soon after the contest had ended. He knew he would be seeing them all again soon, so he bid them a simple, "catch you guys later," and waved over his shoulder as he walked away. Now he sat outside of the contest hall, sitting on a bench. He could see May's friends were waiting for her as well, just a few yards away. Max had noticed him earlier, but decided not to approach him again, which Drew was thankful for.

He had a million things going through his head at the moment, all of them either about the Grand Festival, May, or May being at the Grand Festival. It felt surreal to him, like he'd never been more excited for a contest in his life. She did that for him, though. The sheer thrill of competing against May was what made him fall in love with coordinating in ways he hadn't known before he met her on that beach in Slateport.

Eventually, May finally appeared, skipping up to her waiting party and holding a packet that looked exactly the same as the folder of information he'd received about the Grand Festival when he'd won his fifth ribbon. May was smiling bashfully when her friends praised her performance. Drew stood up off his bench and walked a few yards towards her and stopped, waiting for the right moment.

She seemed to notice his movements, and she turned to see him standing there. Their eyes connected, and Drew felt warmth spread through his chest. He knew his face was slightly red, and he hoped the sunset was hiding it.

"Drew? I didn't know you were here."

Ash had started speaking to her, but May didn't seem to notice him anymore. In fact, everyone else sort of faded into the background for May. It was a moment she'd been waiting for; the chance to show Drew that she had what it took to make it, and now she was going to give it everything she had. She was halfway expecting some sort of taunt, how she just barely made it in or how he would have done so much better than her had it been him. Her blue eyes stayed glued on Drew's green eyes as she slowly peeled herself away from her friends, and approached him. But before May could brag about her accomplishment, she noticed how softly he was smiling, and how sincere he looked. She had only seen Drew this unguarded a scarce amount of times, like after their misadventures on Mirage Island, or that night on the beach in Slateport after their last Grand Festival.

His eyes were aflame with so much of some emotion she couldn't understand, but it was real and it was warm and if was safe and it was all there for her. It took May's breath away for a moment. She couldn't find her words, suddenly.

"So, Grand Festival time is finally here, huh?" he said softly, slowly.

There was so many things he wanted to tell May. He wanted to tell her how glad he was that she was safe after such a chaotic day that she probably had no idea about yet. He wanted her to know how much she impressed him with her performance that day, and how evident it was that she raised her Squirtle into a truly amazing contest Pokémon. He wanted her to know that she was so beautiful when she smiled and accepted her ribbon, and that he couldn't take her eyes off of her throughout the award ceremony. He wanted her to know he was happier than he'd ever been to know he'd meet her again on stage at the Grand Festival.

May looked at him, her eyes somewhat expectant. They sparkled in the dimming sunshine and her face was somewhat flushed. Drew gulped, realizing how close they were.

"I knew you'd already gotten your five ribbons, Drew," she responded, gently.

Arceus, he loved the sound of her voice. He loved the way she said his name. He loved that this moment between them was so still, though they were on the verge of the toughest competition of their lives. Part of him wished they could just stay there for a while and talk, but a clock was ticking in the back of his head. One that was counting down the seconds between them, and the Grand Festival.

A Grand Festival where he'd have to be better than this lovely girl before him, and his scarily powerful best friend, and a menacing coordinator who'd no doubt be out for blood after today's events, and 257 other people he didn't even know about.

In these moments, however, it felt like none of it matter all that much. Just this girl before him, that was all that mattered.

Her eyes were still watching him, a small smile playing on her lips that his eyes focused in on. And the thought of kissing her right then and there made him feel like he was on fire.

In the background, he heard Ash's Pikachu chirp excitedly at something, and he was thrust back into reality realizing that May's companions were watching them.

Oh Arceus no.

Drew was suddenly really embarrassed. He had no idea what expression was on his face, but he suddenly wanted to lock himself in his hotel room and try to sort out some of crazy heart rhythms that he was experiencing, none of which could possibly be normal or healthy.

"Indigo Plateau, see ya," he said abruptly, slightly startling her.

May's face fell a bit as the tender moment was cut short, but she shook it off. It was rare to see Drew so…exposed, and she was thankful for the moments she got. The moments that seemed to be a little more frequent since the first few times they'd met along the journey.

"Drew…" he swore he heard her breathe his name after him, and it was driving him crazy.

She watched his retreating form, slowly stepping away from her, and a smile came back to her.

"Drew, I'm winning, you know!" she called out to him.

A smile exploded onto his lips, it took all of his willpower not to turn and run back to her. He simply allowed a small shrug, and threw a casual wave over his shoulder.

May beamed after him, watching him until he was out of sight, and missing him when he was finally gone. How odd, to miss her rival...

Drew smiled as he walked, and it stayed in place all the way until he got back to his hotel room.

Honestly, Drew could have sworn he'd fallen asleep that night smiling.


End file.
